Consequences of Sharing Invisible Chronic Health Conditions at Work: Implications for Business Communication Education and Training

Abstract

Objectives: The present investigation sought to identify whether there was a need to add health diversity training into business communication curriculum and workplace trainings. Methods: Individuals in the United States with chronic invisible illnesses, lifelong illnesses which are concealable, were surveyed to understand their experiences disclosing their health conditions at work. Qualtrics was used to obtain a random sample and distribute the online questionnaire. This method of solicitation resulted in 298 participants. Results: Nearly half of the participants (48.99%) reported negative experiences, ranging from social faux pas to bullying, after disclosing their health condition to a colleague. This paper provides a typology of eight negative experiences these individuals were subjected to after the disclosure of their health condition. Further, statistically significant patterns were identified that revealed that women and individuals with “other” invisible chronic illnesses were most likely to experience resentment from coworkers after their condition became known, individuals with musculoskeletal conditions were likely to experience an unwanted reduction of work, individuals in the medical field were more likely to experience bullying and social withdrawal by colleagues, and individuals in sales were more likely to have their abilities questioned. Conclusions: The data suggests the need to add health diversity training into business communication courses and workplace training. In particular, it seems that there is a need to train individuals on the management of coworkers’ health information and the treatment of individuals who have revealed an illness.