Companies Navigate Dementia Conversations With Older Workers

An aging U.S. workforce is forcing employers to navigate difficult conversations about dementia with workers facing that prospect, reports the Washington Post . Employees 65 and older are most likely to face dementia diagnoses, while the vast number of older employees expected to continue working increasingly leaves employees and employers struggling with the possibility of dementia in the office. "It's about managing workers' frustration with everything that's changing," says Sarah Wood at Workplace Options of North Carolina. "If this person has been a dependable employee for 40 years and is now missing meetings, they'll be beating themselves up over this." The Americans with Disabilities Act covers individuals with Alzheimer's diagnoses and certain other kinds of dementia, depending on the employee's position and degree of impairment. "The trick is figuring out what tasks they can still perform and what they can still do safely to continue to contribute," Wood notes. Americans with Disabilities Act Director David Fram lists issuing written instructions rather than verbal commands as a possible accommodation. "The next question is whether employees are qualified for their job," he says. "And that's the tougher point, depending on how advanced the dementia is."