Episode 4 - Working with chronic illness

Episode 4 - Working with chronic illness

From Beyond the Blue Light Podcast by Frank Simonds & Tori Harper

April 3, 2025 · 39 min · Episode 4

About this episode

The episode discusses managing chronic illness in the workplace, focusing on HR challenges and the implications of the Bradford Score.

Show notes Ep 4 Managing chronic illness at work - You want to contribute to your organisation, but you develop a chronic health condition that negatively affects your attendance. We discuss HR, problems with the Bradford Score, and other issues connected with working when ill. Bradford Score - * Originally designed for use as part of the overall investigation and management of absenteeism. In contrast, if used as part of a very limited approach to address absence or by setting unrealistically low trigger scores it was considered short-sighted, unlikely to be successful and could lead to staff disaffection and grievances. * The formula does not consider certain disabilities which may result in short term absences, such as epilepsy and asthma , or serious but recoverable illnesses such as cancer . [6] * Does not account for autoimmune diseases in which the occurrence of bouts of illness can be unpredictable. [2] The use of the Bradford Factor often provokes heated debate. [7] * Unison argues that the Bradford Factor tends to encourage presenteeism , with workers fearing disciplinary action coming to work with transmissible illnesses and risking spreading disease to others. [8]…

People in this episode

Hosts: Frank Simonds, Tori Harper

Topics covered

  • chronic illness
  • workplace attendance
  • HR policies
  • Bradford Score
  • employee absence
  • presenteeism

Keywords

  • chronic illness
  • workplace
  • HR
  • Bradford Score
  • absenteeism
  • presenteeism
  • employee health

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Unison, HR, Bradford Score, Lost Time Rate, Frequency Rate

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