What you can do as a manager to support employees with cardiovascular disease

The collective name of cardiovascular disease covers a number of different conditions. On the website for the heart foundation the most significant ones are listed, like angina, strokes, heart failure, cardiac arrhythmia and heart attacks. At the site thuisarts.nl you can see which ailments and symptoms are linked to these various conditions and what the chances of recovery are.

Various factors play a role in causing cardiovascular disease:

• medical factors: someone already has a pre-existing condition that increases the risk;
• lifestyle factors: an unhealthy lifestyle increases the risk;
• work-related factors: working shifts and high pressure of work;
• other factors such as smoking, increased cholesterol, lack of physical exercise, stress and being overweight.

Employees who are affected by cardiovascular disease have both physical and psychological problems as a result. Some people become heart patients overnight, and require invasive and difficult operations. In addition, a heart patient comes face to face with their own mortality, and has to adapt their life to the disease, either temporarily or permanently. Some may well have to take medication for the rest of their life, and are less resilient.

Symptoms that may affect heart patients who are able to (return to) work are very varied, and may affect their work or their return to work:

• Tiredness because their heart is not functioning so well, but also due to sleeping badly;
• Less ability to concentrate, worsening memory;
• Feelings of anxiety, tension, agitation;
• Feelings of depression, sadness, brooding;
• Denial, underestimation of the illness.

To what extent an employee with cardiovascular disease is fit for work will depend on their actual illness and its physical and psychological consequences. Someone who has had a heart attack has to deal with quite different consequences than someone with heart arrhythmia. In addition, you should be guided by the advice from the company doctor here. They will tell you what the limitations and options are for each employee, and determine their level of capacity.

As a manager, you start from the advice given by the company doctor. If you are dealing with an employee who is off sick because of their condition, or who is in the course of re-integration, then you must in any case follow the steps in the Improved. Your role as a manager consists of looking jointly with the employee at how you can make the resumption of work as smooth as possible, and how you can support your employee in doing this.

Your employee may be forced by illness to rethink completely their professional life and career, something which is not always easy to do. With the opinion from the company doctor about their availability, you can then look at what you can do in order to enable their return to work.

There are different measures you can take if someone is not able to return full-time to the same job:

• adjusting the types of activities, maybe in combination with some aids;
• adjusting the number of hours;
• adjusting the distribution of the hours over the working week;
• adjusting the working conditions.

It is possible that your employee will be exposed to increased risks at work, as a result of their heart condition. The company doctor should also inform you about that. In this case you may be looking at:

• exposure to noise;
• physically demanding work;
• working irregular shifts;
• working in extreme temperatures, either cold or hot;
• working sitting down.

You can also help your employee by informing their colleagues. You cannot always tell by looking at someone that they have had a serious heart incident or an invasive operation. The effects are also not always so restrictive. Ask your employee what you can tell others and what they want to explain themselves on their return to work. It helps if colleagues already know what they can and cannot expect from that person. The better informed they are, the better they will be able to support the returning employee. Always bear in mind the need for privacy for your employee, so never share any information without permission.

On the website for Thuisarts and the de Heart Foundation advice is given about how to live a healthier lifestyle with the least possible risk of cardiovascular disease. Obviously, you cannot give instructions about what people do at home, but you can offer and promote healthy food and opportunities for exercise at work. Set a good example yourself, let colleagues see that it is good for them and that they will benefit from it: they will feel fitter, be less tired, be able to concentrate better, have more energy, sleep better and so on.