How to support employees with long COVID

It has been almost three years since COVID-19 first emerged in Wuhan, China, and then evolved into a pandemic.

Tragically, to date, more than six million people worldwide have died of COVID-19. Of the 600 million or so that have survived this deadly viral disease, a significant proportion continue to experience long-term effects – this situation has been termed long COVID, and it can last years.

A wide range of symptoms have been associated with long COVID – the most common ones are fatigue, fever, cough, insomnia, anxiety, difficulty with concentration, and joint or muscle pain.

Approximately 7.5% of all US adults (around 20 million) have long COVID, while research into 53,000 individuals in France found that 10% had symptoms one year after COVID-19 infection.

In Germany, 5.8% were still on sick leave four weeks after they first tested positive for COVID-19, with 10% suffering with symptoms like brain fog, fatigue and shortness of breath.

As of early November 2022, in the UK, 2.2 million (3.4% of the population) had long COVID – 27% of them reported having experienced symptoms for at least two years and 75% said the symptoms impacted their day-to-day activities.

Long COVID-19 and the workplace

The scale of the problem – combined with the types of symptoms – mean that long COVID is severely impacting individuals and their ability to work. This in turn affects business bottom lines and the wider economy.

Indeed decided to dig into precisely how and why long COVID is affecting employees.

“Our research shows that the health emergency has become an employment crisis. While there’s still so much we don’t know about Long COVID, we’re now discovering the true extent to which the illness impairs people’s ability to work”, Danny Stacy, head of employee intelligence at Indeed UK, shares with UNLEASH.

With the help of Censuswide, Indeed surveyed 1,000 workers suffering with long COVID across the UK and found that 98% said it impacted their ability to work – 78% were forced to either stop, change or reduce work because of their symptoms.

23% said they had to stop working full-time, 12% moved to part-time and 19% stopped working altogether. In addition, 24% had reduced their hours, 19% were doing less overtime and 24% had to stop work for a significant amount of time.

This was linked to their fatigue (59%), an inability to concentrate (37%) and being in physical pain why working (19%). 31% were also more anxious and 21% felt less confident at work.

Confidence at work was particularly acute for younger workers – 23% of 16 to 34 year olds said long COVID had impacted their confidence at work, compared to 20% of over 35s. Younger workers were also concerned about their future career prospects – 14% felt less connected with colleagues and 28% were less ambitious due to the impact of the symptoms.

These statistics are confirmed by other data. For instance, Brookings found that up to four million Americans are out of work because of long COVID-19 and lost wages as a result total $170 billion a year.

In addition, a report by the UK’s Trade Union Congress found that 20% of those with long COVID were not working, and 16% were working reduced hours.

This situation is worsened by a looming recession, sky-high inflation and a cost of living crisis. Frankly, people simply cannot afford to be reducing their hours or losing their source of income right now.

Lead with empathy

A major issue that the Indeed report identified was that employers were not sufficiently looking after or supporting employees with long COVID. According to Indeed, more staff feel poorly supported now (16%), than they did when they were first diagnosed (13%).

As a result, 61% are dragging themselves to work, 49% don’t feel like they can ask for time off or the support they need because their employer doesn’t understand their condition and 16% are fearful of losing their job.

While employers have no role in developing better treatment options for workers suffering with these debilitating symptoms, there is lots that businesses can do to better support their workers.

Reasonable accommodations are the first thing – Brookings recommend that employers offer flexibility around hours and locations, as well as on deadlines, plus businesses should provide longer or more frequent breaks.

The next thing to do is to lead with empathy; 67% of those surveyed by Indeed said that companies need to have more compassion.

The research further found that 17% had changed job because of their long COVID symptoms – 7% to move to a job that provides more flexibility and compassion.

Experts and patients weigh in

Stacy tells UNLEASH: “Employers cannot make people medically better but our research shows they need to support employees who are suffering. Management must consider how they can be more empathetic to those whose situation is not improving.

“After all, long COVID isn’t a choice; it’s a reality. Thinking your employer views your suffering as ungenuine is another dark cloud hanging over the head of struggling workers.

“So while it can be difficult for employers to understand the truths of living with Long COVID, simply not standing by their side isn’t an option. Key to solving the long COVID puzzle will be empathy, understanding and compassion.”

Lloyd Cole, a business analyst from Poole with long COVID, shares his personal experience with UNLEASH.

“Long COVID changed my life dramatically. Before I contracted COVID, I was running four times a week, playing football with my friends and taking my dogs for long walks. Fast forward to today, at times, I can’t walk for ten minutes without taking a break.

“Although I had secured a new role as a business analyst in January 2022, I was unable to work effectively because of the waxing and waning of my symptoms. Fortunately, my employer has been incredibly supportive.

“While I’ve been on sick leave since the beginning of the year, they’ve been consistent in scheduling weekly check-ins with me, as regular touchpoints on my wellbeing and recovery.

“However, come January 2023 the business will review whether I have the ability to stay in their employment.”

As a result, Cole calls on employers to “understand that this is a new illness and there are multiple symptoms that affect each individual differently”.

“By helping employees to make workplace adjustments, as well as being flexible due to the symptomatic nature of Long COVID, I believe this would alleviate a lot of stress and worry. Many people with Long COVID are unsure when they will recover as there is currently not enough information and this can be quite hard to come to terms with.”

There are many lessons for employers to learn from long COVID, but they also need to apply these to better look after employees with other long-term illnesses.

Conditions like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue bring similar challenges to sufferers in the workplace – around one million people in the US and 250,000 in the UK have these illnesses – and they also need better support from their employer.

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