Work and Long COVID

If you have long-term complaints after a corona infection, this is called Long COVID or Post COVID. This has consequences for your work. You can work less or not at all. After reporting sick, you visit various healthcare providers, such as a specialist, physiotherapist or occupational therapist. You will also have to deal with legislation that is probably unfamiliar to you. Your life is turned upside down and that costs energy. Energy that you actually need to be able to go back to work.

Aftercare advisor Rianne Hermanns explains how you can better deal with this situation.

You want to get back to work. You miss your colleagues and want to do what you liked to do. Work also offers the necessary distraction so that you think less about your complaints. After the advice of your company doctor, you set up a plan in consultation with your employer. a plan of action up. This states what is needed for you to be able to return to work. As a self-employed person, you will talk to your insurance doctor, if you are insured for this. The doctor will advise you in particular on your ability to work.

In the action plan, you make agreements about the goal of the reintegration and with which activities you can best achieve this. You also record which adjustments to your work or your workplace are necessary. For example, you agree to work a few hours a day, in a quiet workplace where there are not too many distractions. If returning to work is not yet possible, you agree on how you will keep in touch with each other during the period of illness.

Self-employed

Entrepreneurs and ZZP-ers with long-term complaints are immediately confronted with the financial consequences. Reason why many invest mainly in staying at work. Recovery takes longer as a result. Aftercare advisor Diana ter Mull gives tips on how to deal with being ill and your work. Seek help to keep a grip on the complexity of your situation.

Now that you have been ill for a longer period of time, you will have to have all kinds of conversations about work. With your employer or client(s), your colleagues, the company doctor or insurance doctor. These conversations are important to you. Therefore, prepare them well and take someone with you. Together you will hear and remember more than alone. Tell how you feel and what you can and cannot do. And that this differs from day to day. Do not pretend to be better than you feel.

The videos below explain how to conduct conversations about work and how the conversation with the company doctor proceeds.

To give a good picture of how you are doing, you write a daily story. In this story, you indicate exactly how your days are going. You write down what you can and cannot do and how much energy it costs you. You use a daily story in conversations about work. It provides more understanding for your situation and helps with your reintegration process to be able to resume your work.

In order to resume your work, you want to work on your recovery. Because the symptoms of Long COVID are erratic and differ from person to person, this is not always easy. It requires a customized approach. Your company doctor or insurance doctor will help you with this.

Your complaints limit your energy while recovery requires a lot of your energy. Company doctor Ernst Jurgens explains what recovery time is and what you can do to support your recovery.

Occupational therapist Edith Brocken gives tips on how to deal with the limited energy when returning to work. Make a plan and involve your environment. Make smart choices about what to spend your limited energy on.

If you are unable to work due to your complaints, you will receive support:

• Self-employed: through your own disability insurer
• Employees: by the company doctor or occupational health and safety service
• Employees with a WIA benefit: by your employer and the UWV
• Job seekers with a WIA benefit: by the UWV
• Job seekers covered by the Sickness Benefits Act: by the UWV
• Job seekers covered by the Participation Act: by your municipality

Additional occupational or medical expertise

In addition to this support, do you need additional occupational or medical expertise? Then you can call on one of the many consultancy firms. Ask your legal advisor at your union, the legal desk or the legal aid insurer which consultancy firms you can consult. C-support does not carry out these expertises itself. However, your aftercare advisor can help you find the right path.

If you remain ill for a longer period of time, you will normally contact your company doctor every six weeks. Together, you will look at what is possible to resume your work step by step. Are the conversations with your company doctor or insurance doctor, your employer or colleagues difficult? Are you encountering a lack of understanding or are you being put under pressure? Contact your Aftercare Advisor for support.

More information

More videos and animations about Work, Income and Long COVID can be found in the Toolbox 'Work and Long COVID'. All materials are free to use.