A quarter of employees with cancer said they did not feel heard or listened to by their employer, despite legal obligations for employers to support people with cancer in the workplace.
Research, from provider Working To Wellbeing, also showed that 21 percent of UK employees who have, or had, cancer were not satisfied with the communication from their line manager or employer during a period of ill-health.
However, the provider’s study, titled ‘Window to the Workplace’, found that the vast majority of line managers (82 percent) do think it’s important to keep in contact, via set check in times, with staff who have a long-term health condition such as cancer.
Higher survival rates
The charity MacMillan Cancer Support has estimated there are currently 890,000 people of working age living with cancer in the UK and 700,000 people juggling work and caring for someone with cancer.
Julie Denning, managing director, chartered health psychologist at Working To Wellbeing and chair of the Vocational Rehabilitation Association, said: “Earlier diagnoses and developments in treatments mean that cancer survival rates are rising and more people with cancer are heading back into the workplace.
“But more often than not, there will be times when they need to take time away from work for medical appointments or a period of ill-health. Open communication is crucial; employees need to be heard and line managers need to have the skills and the tools in place to both listen and act with confidence.”
Legal obligation
Denning continued: “Supporting colleagues with cancer in the workplace isn’t ‘just the right thing to do’ it is also a legal obligation. The 2010 Equality Act considers a progressive condition, including cancer, as a disability. Over the last decade, our experience as a back-to-work rehabilitation specialist has found that most people with cancer want and need to be in work.”
She said that the study found that 49 percent of UK workers would be likely to stay working with an employer longer-term if they were offered vocational rehabilitation support to help them stay working or return to work when they were ready.
Upskill your managers
The research showed that 65 percent of line managers feel confident about talking to a colleague with a long-term illness about their condition, while 20 percent were unsure and 12 percent said they were not confident.
Only 50 percent of line managers said they felt equipped with sufficient resources and training to support people with a long-term health condition. For managers in the 55+ age bracket, this proportion was lower at just 39 percent.
Among employees with cancer, 43 percent were satisfied with the phased return-to-work programme set out by their employer, which dropped to 32 percent among employees aged 55+.
Just 40 percent were satisfied with a personalised return-to-work programme, which fell to 25 percent among employees aged 55+.
Less than a third (29 percent) were satisfied with physical modifications in the workplace, falling to 11 percent of over 55s, while just 36 percent were satisfied with the wellbeing and mental health support offered, which fell to 25 percent among people aged 55+.
A higher proportion, 42 percent, were satisfied with the flexible working available but again this dropped to 28 percent for people aged 55+. And 36 percent were satisfied with the reasonable adjustments made to their job to enable them to manage their health.
Just 30 percent were satisfied with the career advice offered by their employer, which dropped to 25 percent for women and rose slightly for men to 35 percent. When split by age, people over 55 were the least satisfied with the career advice offered while coping with cancer at just 13 percent, compared to 64 percent of adults under 35.
The research was conducted for Working To Wellbeing in September 2023 with 529 UK line managers and 108 people who have or have had cancer in the workplace by Opinium Research.
