Migraine in the workplace

Migraine Awareness Week, beginning on the first Sunday in September, aims to raise awareness of the condition, highlight its impact and our vital work to support the millions of people affected.

Migraine is the third most common disease in the world, with an estimated global prevalence of one in seven people. Despite being recognised as one of the most disabling lifetime conditions, awareness and understanding is low.

Mindful of migraine – workplaces



To build on the success of last year’s Migraine Awareness Week that focused on migraine in the workplace, the Migraine Trust has decided to focus on this important issue again as we feel there is still much to be done in this area.

We also thought that the recent research by the Work Foundation into migraine in the workplace provided an opportunity to look at what can be done to make workplaces better for people who get migraine.

That is why we are using this Migraine Awareness Week to launch a drive to promote how workplaces can be ‘Mindful of migraine’. By mindful of migraine we mean for employers:

• to be aware of the high numbers of people who get migraine, that it is very common and that there is a strong possibility that someone they employ might get migraine.
• to have an understanding that it is a complex neurological condition and that people can experience migraine very differently.
• to make reasonable adjustments once they become aware that they have an employee who gets migraine, such as considering flexible working practices and looking at how their physical environment can be adjusted to help prevent the triggering of a migraine.

Workplaces being mindful of migraine won’t mean that people with migraine never struggle at work again or that they won’t encounter issues at work because of migraine, but we believe it is an important step in helping people work with migraine.

Get involved: Promote understanding of ‘Mindful of migraine’ workplaces

As well as promoting the concept and importance of workplaces that are mindful of migraine in the media, we are also contacting large employers, business organisations, trade unions, and those working in occupational therapy and human resources.

You too can help raise awareness of the scale of people in the UK workforce who are living and working with migraine and what employers can do to be more mindful of migraine.

If you would like to promote how workplaces can be mindful of migraine, you can:

1. Let your organisation know how it can be mindful of migraine
Download our Migraine: Help at work toolkit and share it with your employer. It provides general information for people with migraine, their colleagues, managers, trade unions, human resource departments and occupational health professionals about ways to manage migraine in the workplace.

2. Highlight good practice
Share your experience of how your employer made reasonable adjustments to help you manage your migraine by emailing Una Farrell, our Communications Manager, at ufarrell@migrainetrust.org. She will add it to our website and share it on social media to highlight examples of reasonable adjustments that employers have made.

3. Raise awareness of ‘mindful of migraine’ workplaces

Download these social media graphics below and share them on your social channels with a link to this page and using the hashtag #MindfulofMigraine.

Social media graphics:
https://www.migrainetrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Mindful-of-Migraine-Workplaces-2.jpg
https://www.migrainetrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Mindful-of-Migraine-Workplaces-3-1.jpg
https://www.migrainetrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Mindful-of-Migraine-Workplaces-4.jpg