If you’re a fan of the Great British Bake Off you’ll regularly hear the statistic that almost one in two of us will get cancer in our lifetime. Behind this scary figure is another worrying sum: the potential cost of cancer absence for employers could be as much as £1.6 billion in 2024.
This huge cost was revealed by in-depth research from Reframe Cancer, a provider of specialist cancer support services, as part of a study with 500 UK employees with cancer.
The results, published in ‘The Employee Experience report: Living and working with cancer’, showed that on average employees take 15 weeks off work throughout their cancer journey.
More than one in 10 (11 percent) employees do not tell their employer about their cancer diagnosis until they are undergoing or have finished treatment.
And more than three quarters (77 percent) of employees with cancer do not think their employee benefits fully meet their needs.
The £1.6 billion cancer absence cost was extrapolated from information from NHS Cancer Data and the Office for National Statistics. The NHS said that 160,000 people of working age receive a cancer diagnosis each year, while the ONS data showed an average employee salary is £34,963.
The report emphasised that as well as the expected absence for treatment and recovery, employees take time off during the early stages before a formal diagnosis is made. This equates to 12 days off for pre-diagnosis worries and symptoms, 16 days off for diagnosis and testing, 24 days for treatment and 23 days to recover.
Hidden diagnosis
More than half of employees (55 percent) only tell their employer after their cancer diagnosis has been confirmed, meaning most employees will take 28 days off work before telling HR or their employer.
One in 10 (11 percent) wait until either they are having treatment or after their treatment has finished. This means they could take up to 52 days off work before telling their employer about their cancer. Just under two-fifths (18 percent) tell their employer while they are having tests.
Such reluctance to share a cancer diagnosis can be partly explained by the figure that 48 percent of survey respondents said they felt pressured to keep working during their cancer journey.
Employers also need to think about the 700,000 people in work who care for someone with cancer because they will need to take time off.
Benefits falling short
When an employee has a cancer diagnosis, their work benefits become hugely important. However the report found that 77 percent of employees with cancer do not believe that the employee benefits offered to them during their cancer journey meet all their needs. Within this group of dissatisfied employees 58 percent are male, 58 percent earn less than £30,000 per year and 54 percent have worked with their current employer for 4-10 years.
Researchers found that both higher and lower earners were dissatisfied. Nearly seven in 10 (68 percent) of those who earn more than £5,000 per month, said they do not believe their employee benefits meet all their cancer needs. Lower earners were even more dissatisfied with 90 percent of people that earn under £1,500 a month stating the same.
Private healthcare gap
The report found a level of inequality in the provision of private healthcare. The NHS is the primary source of cancer care for 92 percent of employees in total, with 62 percent of respondents stating they receive treatment exclusively through the NHS.
Thirty percent of employees receive a combination of NHS and private care, while only 6 percent receive exclusively private treatment.
Within this data there is a strong gender divide in the provision of private cancer care treatment. Only 29 percent of female employees receive private medical treatment compared to 71 percent of male employees.
Researchers found a correlation between seniority and access to private healthcare. Just 6 percent of employees in junior positions said they accessed private healthcare for their cancer care. This compares to 64 percent of c-suite executives who said they accessed private health services during their cancer journey, followed by senior management (52 percent), middle management (30 percent) and supervisors (29 percent).
Isolated at work
Further survey results showed that 45 percent of employees with cancer believe their colleagues consider them a burden during their cancer journey and 35 percent don’t feel they can openly talk to their colleagues about their diagnosis and treatment.
More than a third (35 percent) of employees said they felt isolated at work during their cancer experience. The research indicated that employees who feel like this take more time off work during their diagnosis, treatment, and recovery (4.7 weeks) than the average (4.3 weeks).
Mark Stephenson, CEO at Reframe Cancer, said: “Our extensive research has highlighted that things are much worse for employees working with cancer than we feared. They are taking 15 weeks off work on average, many will also take more than this, while 92 percent are also reliant on the NHS, and there is virtually no support being put in place for almost all these people.
“Of further concern is the gender inequality we are seeing in the provision of private healthcare, with 71 percent of men getting private medical insurance (PMI) support, compared to just 29 percent of females. As well as this there is an additional trend emerging whereby lower earners are the most dissatisfied with their employee benefits for cancer. The grade of an employee should not have an impact on the support they receive when dealing with cancer.
“Sadly the research also shows that stigmatisation of cancer is very real, and many employees feel as though they have to hide their cancer diagnosis, concerns and even symptoms, in 2024 this feels so wrong. This needs to be a massive wake up call to employers, brokers and insurers about the importance of cancer support in the workplace.”
Stephenson highlighted MacMillan research estimates that 890,000 people of working age are currently living with cancer and will need ongoing support. He said the provider’s expert cancer nurses can help employees navigate the NHS, or private route, much more quickly. Faster access to support helps employees to keep working and feel much more supported, he said.
Brian Walters, managing director of specialist PMI broker Regency Health, said: “This research underlines the important role PMI can play. It can help relieve some of the pressure on the NHS and is becoming an increasingly sought after benefit.
“It is concerning that some employees feel under supported in their cancer journey, and its important advisers understand the importance of comprehensive cancer cover to an employee-benefits package.”
