Sarah Haller – Solicitor

“I wasn’t going to make my illness an issue. My strategy was to make sure my employers knew that my illness wouldn’t get in the way of my work”

Like many solicitors, 37 year old Sarah Haller works in a high pressure environment but thrives in it. Unlike many solicitors however, she has to balance the challenges and demands of her job with a chronic illness. Sarah has lived with Crohn’s disease since 1992 when she was first diagnosed with the condition. Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the intestines which affects people in different ways depending on its location.

Sarah specialises in property law at Chadwick Lawrence, a successful law firm with offices across West Yorkshire. She doesn’t make an issue of her illness either to other colleagues or to her clients and only mentions it when necessary. For nine years she didn’t need to take any time off work for health reasons. However, in 2007 she needed to take sick leave for an operation. After a few months absence Sarah was back at work.  HR manager Linda Hodgson encouraged her to work reduced hours until she felt ready to resume her normal working hours. Sarah worked part time hours for a few weeks after she went back to work, but soon felt strong enough to resume working full time.

Remain positive

Sarah puts her success in managing her successful career and living with a serious health condition, down to attitude. She said: “I’ve always tried to remain positive and I am determined to work”.

Employer's story

The priority at Chadwick Lawrence is to employ people who have the skills for the job. Managers are committed to caring for staff and take a ‘holistic’ approach to managing employees. “We think of people as people and not members of staff” says Human Resources Manager, Linda Hodgson.

Focus on skills and abilities

Managing Partner Jeremy Garside, believes that the key to looking after staff is to treat them as you would like to be treated yourself. Staff who have disabilities or health problems are not treated any differently from other employees. Managers focus on their skills and abilities rather than their health problems. “Our priority is to ensure that employees have the skills to do their job” says Jeremy. “If employees have health problems, we consider each case on merit.”

Managers respect the dignity of their staff, particularly if they have to live with the challenge of ill health. Adjustments are made as necessary to accommodate the needs of employees. For example jobs have been restructured or even created to enable some employees with serious health conditions to continue working.

The strategy to give employees the best possible care really does work at Chadwick Lawrence. Staff turnover is low and attendance is good. Human Resources Manager Linda Hodgson said: “The bottom line here is that the company really does care about people.”

Employee's story

When Sarah was first diagnosed with Chrohn’s disease, she was a student at Huddersfield University but managed to complete her course and graduate. She began her career as a secretary before training to become a journalist and then finally made the switch to a career in law. Throughout all the stages of her career, Sarah has never allowed her illness to become a barrier to what she wants to achieve.

Sarah takes responsibility for her health and keeps managers informed of any relapses in her condition that will affect her work. She doesn’t require any particular physical support at work but does have the full support of the Human Resources Manager and management team.

Mutual trust

“One of my previous managers was particularly sympathetic. He’d had a kidney transplant so knew what it was like to live with a health problem” says Sarah. The mutual trust that is shared between Sarah and Human Resources Manager Linda Hodgson is highly valued. “Linda started working for the company whilst I was on sick leave but she took the time to call me and check on my health even though I’d never met her” says Sarah. Sarah’s return to work after her operation was phased and she was encouraged to take as much time as needed to recover.

Sarah is aware that not all employees feel comfortable talking to their managers about their health problems. She believes that trust is important and that keeping lines of communication open helps to make what could be a difficult situation, manageable.

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