Pain in Employment and Economic Considerations 

Initiate policies to address the impact of pain on employment and include pain in relevant existing initiatives. Recognise the increasing economic cost of unmanaged pain and the need to integrate pain management into policy developments. 

We call for greater recognition of pain as a factor influencing employability and economic participation. We ask for reasonable, flexible workplace adjustments that can help individuals with chronic pain to remain in work, support reintegration into the labour market, and improve quality of life.  

We call on the European Commission to: 

• Work together with national authorities to promote policies that reflect the link between pain management/care and employment. 
• Promote EU-level policy frameworks that recognise the link between pain, employment and productivity.  
• Build on outcomes of projects such as CHRODIS-Plus and PATHWAYS by supporting the integration of pain into relevant training tools and programmes under employment and policy.  

We call on National Governments to:  

• Support data collection at the national level to assess the employment impact of chronic pain and inform evidence-based policy. 
• Encourage regional and local policymakers to promote policies that support individuals living with chronic pain to remain in or return to work.  
• Develop measurable national indicators to track the effectiveness of employment-related pain policies, including return-to-work outcomes, accommodations uptake, and long-term productivity. 

Our commitments: 

• Engage civil society, healthcare professionals, patient organisations, and employers in sharing best practices to improve workplace productivity for people with pain. 
• Continue collecting and sharing data on pain and employment through surveys and stakeholder consultation to inform policy development at both the EU and national levels.