Palliative Care Queensland is delighted to launch two new toolkits aimed at supporting workplaces and employees when faced with the diagnosis and ongoing management of a life-limiting illness:
- Life-Limiting Illnesses In The Workplace – A Toolkit For Managers and HR Professionals
- Life-Limiting Illnesses In The Workplace – A Toolkit For Employees
Available for download, the guides are an essential part of building capability and capacity across workplaces to gain further understanding of the issues associated with a life-limiting illness and how best to appropriately, sympathetically and sensitively support those impacted.
Palliative Care Queensland CEO welcomed the new publications, “We are delighted to make available new resources for employers and employees to support people living with a life-limiting illness and diagnosis,” said Louise. “As anyone involved in care will tell you, one of the greatest challenges we have is normalising conversations about death and dying. Given death is such an uncomfortable topic of conversation in our society and for many individuals, dealing with it in the workplace is not easy either, whether for the affected employee, human resource professionals or managers and teams. Many people in the workplace find themselves out of their depth and uncertain of how to navigate a challenging situation, and our guides have been designed to help navigate the challenges.”
HR Professionals Toolkit
We know from the work of the Grattan Institute in their report “Dying Well” and other research that, at a community level, Australians are not comfortable talking about death. We see this in the discomfort of many health professionals when discussing a terminal illness diagnosis with their patients and in how willing people are to plan for, and document, their end-of-life care wishes.
And yet the number of deaths in Australia is estimated to double in the next 25 years as our population ages. This means an increasing number of people will be impacted by terminal illness, referred to as a life-limiting illness, when still in the workplace. While some individuals who are working will be diagnosed with a life-limiting illness, a greater number will become responsible for caring for a loved one with such an illness.
Given death is such an uncomfortable topic of conversation in our society and for many individuals, dealing with it in the workplace is not easy either, whether for the affected employee, human resource professionals or managers and teams. Many people in the workplace find themselves out of their depth and uncertain of how to navigate a challenging situation.
This uncertainty impacts an employer’s ability to provide information and practical support for their employees faced with a diagnosis of a life-limiting illness or caring for a relative facing such an illness.
Palliative Care Queensland acknowledges it is not an easy process and has developed this toolkit to provide managers, human resource leaders and team leaders with some best practice resources and information to help deal with these issues in the workplace. The toolkit should also initiate, and help develop, workplace policies and practices to support employees in need.
Please use this toolkit as a basis for starting conversations and consultations within your organisation and to develop and implement policies and training to foster a caring and positive workplace that builds a supportive culture for employees involved in end-of-life care.
Employee Toolkit Foreword
When faced with the prospect of our own death (or the death of someone we are caring for), most people find it very difficult to articulate their wants and needs – this includes in the workplace – as for many Australians conversations about death, dying and grief are challenging and uncomfortable.
The Grattan Institute has recognised that a failure to talk about and plan for death is one of the most significant obstacles to improving the quality of dying. To address this, Palliative Care Queensland has developed this toolkit, intended to help you as an employee when you have been given a terminal diagnosis (referred to as a life-limiting illness) or as an employee responsible for caring for someone with such a diagnosis.
In both situations, you will be faced with an array of day-to-day challenges for which there are no procedure manuals or flow diagrams to help navigate the way as your path will be as individual as you are.
And while many employers provide positive support to employees through Human Resource Advisors or through access to third-party counselling services, supporting someone with a life-limiting illness can generate an array of day-to-day challenges that overextend organisational knowledge and resources.
Within this guide, you will find the relevant information, links, resources, and practical advice on subjects including decision making, planning, having productive conversations and how to find suitable support resources and information.
Palliative Care Queensland understands that for many, employment is a central part of their life, providing financial support, social interaction and independence and we believe that work continuity is often crucial for maintaining a degree of normality and independence.
We hope that this guide supports you as you plan for your future and discuss your workplace arrangements with your employer.
