Evidence shows that people who have early access to health and wellness supports tend to have a better trajectory and outcome than people who don’t. Prevention and impact limitation strategies are important for both employees and employers – but where does communication fit in?

Communication is part of all points in the journey. We know that employees with arthritis, joint pain, and back pain have better work outcomes the earlier they can access available supports. We also know that supports can be diverse and include everything from formal and informal workplace accommodations, to simply feeling that employers and co-workers are providing a supportive culture. Enabling access to timely and appropriate support is vital, but how do we know that we are communicating the information that people need when they need it? Do we know what information they need (whether an employee, co-worker, manager, or leader/decision-maker)?

Reflecting on existing communication strategies in your organization, identifying what is great, what is good, and what might need a nudge in the right direction is how we recommend you get started on a high-quality communication strategy.

Work disability can occur early in the disease progression for employees with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or other forms of inflammatory arthritis. Therefore, to reduce work disability or other work disruptions (e.g., increased sick time, absenteeism, presenteeism) prevention needs to occur as early as possible.

18% of employees with RA leave work within 5 years of diagnosis, 27% within 10 years (Lacaille, 2019).