Advice to employers and colleagues after a burn

This section covers:

  • The importance of having supportive employers and colleagues
  • Understanding burn injuries and making adjustments in the workplace
  • Education and training for employers

Having an employer who is understanding to employees’ needs is important. When an employee has a burn injury, or their child has been burnt, there can be some extra considerations. Sometimes employers and colleagues do not understand how severe burn injuries can be, or that a burn injury may require lifelong treatment.

The importance of having supportive employers and colleagues

The people we spoke to appreciated it when their employers showed consistent support when they had been burnt or had a child who had been burnt. Speaking of the impact on work after her daughter was burnt, Lindsay described sometimes feeling “guilty for letting people down” but that the understanding of her colleagues “is huge, it’s massive”.

Lindsay believed that support from an employer is key to coping with the challenging circumstances surrounding burn injuries.

Be as understanding and as flexible as you can because it’s certainly when it’s your child, as a parent, when it’s your child you’d take that injury any day of the week over your child having it. Any parent would. But I think that you yourself are sad and upset that your child has experienced this. So, to have an employer saying “Oh well” you know “I can lend you half an hour” or anything like that would be a disaster. You need to be as understanding as possible because yes, your child has this injury but the trauma as a parent that you’re feeling on behalf of your child and, you know, even though I wasn’t even there, or you know accidents are called accidents for a reason but that doesn’t stop you feeling guilty about them. So, for an employer not to be understanding is just a no go. You need to be asked “Are you ok?” Because even though it’s happened to your child, you’re doing the sorting out of the appointments and, you know, “I need to take that time off work.” Niamh missing a half hour of school – not being rude – at that age, she wasn’t going to fail her GCSEs, do you know what I mean? But for me, not being able to go to work was an inconvenience to my work. But it wasn’t a problem from start to finish and that is how people need to act. Because nobody chooses to be in these situations and it’s about clubbing together and sticking together when you do find yourself in that situation. So, flexibility and understanding is key when it comes to, certainly your children but, yeah, yourself.

Yeah, but I think yeah, the advice I think I’d give is the support is key because when any trauma happens to you, it has a knock-on effect. So, one negative act has a huge effect on you. So, that simple “Yeah, get off and go to your appointment, good luck, I’ll see you when you get back.” That’s huge. That’s absolutely huge, because it is a positive action on what is a negative situation. But to add more negativity is just not fair. It’s, you know, the thing is so, the burn is on the surface, it’s what’s going on in here and in here, and that’s the bit that people don’t necessarily see or understand or respect. And you need to be doing all of those things. Because your mind is whirling on many an occasion and yeah, support is key throughout any of those appointments and, you know, even though you need to go to these appointments you still feel guilty for letting people down and their understanding on that situation is huge, it’s massive. And that, yeah, support, absolute support would be my advice to any employer of somebody in that situation.

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Some people, like Frazer, appreciated that his employer and colleague didn’t question or insist on having “evidence” when he needed time off work. After her child was burnt, Holly appreciated that her work didn’t “quiz me loads about it… because I wouldn’t have really wanted to [go into detail about it]”.

Helen Y thinks that if an employer is understanding about someone needing to take time off to attend appointments, then the employee will be grateful and want to show their gratitude through hard work. She thought that supporting an employee who has had a “traumatic experience” would eventually foster positive work qualities, like being “a wider, more resilient and more creative person in the company”.

Understanding burn injuries and making adjustments in the workplace

A common misconception is that burns are relatively minor injuries which only require short-term, immediate treatment. If employers and colleagues hold this belief, it can cause problems and tensions when a person needs time off for appointments and ongoing treatment.

Saffron wants employers to understand that having a burn is a life-long journey.

I don’t think there’s enough awareness around burns in themselves for employers to really take into consideration the needs that that person would, because they have an injury, might face. So, you know, just because my employer might know I’m burnt, but they might not understand that means I have to have this treatment. So, it’s kind of when do you have them conversations? For me, I’ve obviously just done it when I’ve got my hospital letter through and it’s a good way to open that up, um but, yeah, so I think, as I say, they don’t really understand the complexity of it. And another thing with me is I take a lot of time off to volunteer for other burn organisations. So, I guess with my work they just do understand it’s such a big part of my life in many areas. So, from, as well as needing sick days for treatment, I also take annual leave to, you know, volunteer and they’ll know that I’ve gone away on a camp or I’m doing this and that. So, it’s probably a two-way street. It’s as well as the burn survivor being open with their employer, so that they can be understanding of their needs.

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Sometimes adjustments within the workplace are needed to make returning to and continuing work easier for a person who has had a burn injury. The people we spoke to wanted to be treated like a normal person but recognised that this required others to understand the challenges of having a burn and employers to make any necessary adjustments so they could continue work.

Frazer suggested that employers should not put pressure on their employees whilst they adjust to working after a burn injury.

A bit flexible, and just don't put too much pressure on it, you know, just accept that things might happen a little bit slower, and don't put the pressure on it because it will eventually rise again when it becomes part of normal life, and they've made the adjustments, but it's like sort of anything. You get something new you've got to adjust to it. So that sort of period of adjusting needs to happen, and just don't put the pressure on right, you know, you've had a week. You need to be back at your normal levels, you know. It's so unreasonable. So, it's got to be fair.

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For example, as he works in a laboratory, Tom was required to wear rubber gloves. He told us it would have been beneficial if his employer had provided latex-free gloves which wouldn’t irritate his scars. He also explained how he would have appreciated having hand-moisturiser available in the bathrooms to keep his burn scars hydrated and to stop them from itching.

India thought it was a good idea to have discreet ways for employees or students to ask for additional support, for example if they felt uncomfortable talking about it in person and would prefer to send an email.

Some of the people we spoke to felt lucky that their employer had allowed them to work from home while they were recovering from their injury or treatment, or when caring for their child who had been injured. Chris Y and Amy said they were “fortunate” to be able to work from home. They acknowledged that it would be a “struggle” to look after a child with a burn in jobs where physically being present in the work setting was necessary.

Sarah felt grateful that she was able to work from home when she started working again.

And when you had to take time off work, were work understanding?

To be honest, they’ve done everything and more all the times I’ve been off. Obviously, financially I don’t get full pay and stuff while I’m off but, other than that, my work have always been very supportive. When I’ve come back to work, they’ve always been really supportive. I don’t think they really could have done any more, to be honest.

If you were having to give advice to an employer about what to do if one of their employees had a burn injury and had to take time off or had to have flexible working options, what would you advise others to do?

I mean, there’s never been an issue with the amount of time. Obviously, when I think back to the amount of time that I’ve had off in the last three years, it’s not the best, put it that way, but you know, it’s never been an issue. My role has always waited for me. When I came back after one operation, I was able to work from home for a few months so that I could be back at work but not actually in the office, which was really helpful. They’ve always stayed in touch, you know, on the phone while I’ve been off, sent cards, flowers and things like that from people that I work with. People always check-in – not in a ‘pressurey’ way but, you know, in a genuine way to see how I am, which is nice. They’ve always asked after my family and things like that.

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Education and training for employers

Saffron spoke about the importance of employers providing training to educate colleagues about burns and visible differences. She also felt it was important that first-aid is taught within the workplace in the event of an accident.

India wants to encourage workplaces to provide training about visible differences and inclusivity.

I think education is really key and, to be honest, I don’t think it should just be something that happens and someone has a burn injury, I think employers should take agency in educating their staff on treating people with disabilities or any sort of visible differences and educating their employees on the fact that people are different and how to deal with it and get experts in to provide that training. Because, obviously, you provide that training around race and gender and that is really important, but I think disabilities sometimes are a little bit neglected in that. Or not just disabilities, visible differences. So, you know, I would encourage any sort of education, to be honest, in advance because there’s always going to be someone, in any workplace, they’re going to come into contact with someone who has some sort of difference and I think being educated on that is really, really important, even before something so terrible happens that they have to do so.

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Chris Y said it was important for employers to have a contingency plan or policy in place for when an employee needs to take time off for recovery and treatment after accidents, such as a burn injury.

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