Gut Health Can Be a Workplace Equity Issue. Here’s How HR Leaders Can Prevent That

1. There’s a gender gap in GI health

In addition to the fact that women are more likely than men to have GI health issues, they often have more symptoms. For example, when women have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) specifically, they’re more likely than their male counterparts to also experience anxiety and depression-type symptoms, both of which can impact productivity and performance in the workplace.

So what does that mean in the context of RTO?

One survey found that 90 percent of workers agreed that remote work had a positive impact on their physical health, and 93 percent agreed it positively impacted their mental health. Workers with GI issues may find it harder to navigate in-person working around symptoms and may experience new sources of stress – for example, about the location of their workspace relative to the bathroom.

Even being in person among their coworkers may cause some distress, as gas, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea are among the most common symptoms experienced by Americans with GI issues.

But perhaps more troubling is the question of who has access to remote work in the first place. Overall, men are more likely to be offered remote work options than women, nonbinary, or transgender workers. This is in part because men tend to outnumber women in occupations where remote work is feasible, but also in part because men outnumber women in managerial and other higher-ranking positions, which are more likely to offer flexible work arrangements, per McKinsey.

So even while men are less impacted by GI issues overall, they’re more likely to have a work setup that is conducive to managing those symptoms. Now let’s look beyond gender at GI symptoms and workplace implications.

2. Marginalized groups have worse GI care and digestive health outcomes

Access to GI care and digestive outcomes also varies greatly across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. One notable example is that socially vulnerable groups have worse outcomes in IBS and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) because of inequities that exist in the healthcare system and social determinants of health.

What’s more, when people in marginalized groups have IBD, they’re more likely than their non-marginalized counterparts to…

• Experience poor symptom control (35 percent vs. 18 percent).
• Have difficulty accessing care from specialists (26 percent vs. 11 percent).
• Require an ED visit for their symptoms (42 percent vs. 22 percent).

While the system itself is partly to blame, the unique nature of digestive conditions augments those structural problems. GI conditions, for example, are often difficult to diagnose and require visits to primary care physicians and multiple specialists who may run multiple inconclusive tests. Wait times between each appointment can stretch for months.

Even when patients have the financial means to pay for this diagnostic journey and the time off work for the many doctors’ visits required, many end up with acute health problems before getting a diagnosis or treatment. In fact, 8.4 million ER visits each year are caused primarily by a disease of the digestive system.

These problems are exacerbated for those in rural areas or other care deserts, where seeing appropriate specialists may require hours of driving – which, of course, increases the demands for time off work, especially in a RTO environment.

The good news is that HR leaders may be able to address many of these disparities by equipping employees with tools and resources specifically designed to diagnose and treat GI issues.

3. Improving access to care can improve outcomes

Benefits that make GI care more accessible – for example, by facilitating telehealth and one-on-one care in digital formats – have the potential to increase GI care access for women and socially vulnerable groups. 

For socially vulnerable groups, living in a care desert or having unreliable transportation can make in-person care difficult to get. Care delivered digitally eliminates that burden. Designed right, it can also provide more direct, timely access to GI specialists.

For women who are also caregivers (75 percent of the country’s 41.8 million caregivers are women), care delivered digitally can ease the burden of finding backup caregivers.

And as is frequently true, digital-first care also benefits non-vulnerable populations with GI issues. When 40 percent of the US population has GI symptoms that interrupt daily life, being able to access care without leaving the house – and, frankly, the bathroom – can make a significant difference in whether someone gets care at all.

When care is more accessible health outcomes improve. Given the widespread nature of GI issues, the downstream benefits for workplaces can be significant.