Line managers, as the statistics show*, often don’t realise that the Equality Act 2010 (Disability Discrimination Act 1995, Northern Ireland) covers cancer or understand what is meant by ‘reasonable adjustments’. So, for example, after six to eight weeks of a phased return, they typically expect an ‘employee’ recovering from cancer treatment to be ‘back to normal’ and assume that making any adjustments at this stage…
If you read my blog in March you’ll recall I wrote that, ‘returning to work is not a sprint, it’s more like a marathon and sometimes there need to be pauses along the way to draw breath. It’s not a seamless progression, but a long and winding road. The reason for this is because many cancer treatments have significant, long-term consequences. Some side effects do not become apparent until after treatment has finished…
After the rollercoaster journey of receiving a cancer diagnosis and treatment, many cancer survivors and their employers believe that after a return to work plan has been agreed and a few reasonable adjustments have been made, life will be pretty much back to normal in a few weeks.
However, this can be a particularly difficult time for those recovering from cancer, often made worse by the feeling that support is no longer…
One major issue that has been raised with us is recently is how to get men to be more open about health issues and cancer specifically so that HR professionals and line managers can provide them with the support that they need.
This problem is not specific to cancer or to the UK. Research seems to indicate that there are two main reasons why men don’t ask for support, which would apply both to men with cancer and men…
Here are a couple of case studies to get you thinking: can you spot what the employers should have done differently in the two case studies below?
Case 1:
A friend of mine, relatively new in a senior role, was diagnosed with cancer. Keen to keep on working during her chemo and with no real knowledge of what chemo was like, she committed to going into work for a couple of days a week. This worked well for a couple of cycles…
