Cancer Awareness: Supporting work colleagues

Cancer. It’ a sensitive subject, handled thoughtfully here by HR180 HR Assistant, Nuhman Sharif. If cancer is affecting someone you know at work, we have included useful links below.  

Unfortunately, I’m sure we all know somebody who has cancer or has lost the battle against this terrible disease – maybe a friend, neighbour or relative. But it’s possible that some of us have encountered a situation where one of our fellow employees has been diagnosed with cancer.

Let’s make the workplace a better place for our colleagues with cancer.

Employers, managers and colleagues all want to do the best they can to support their employees, especially during periods of difficulty. What do I say? What support should I give? As a Line Manager, am I sufficiently equipped to deal with such a situation – and what is deemed to be too much support and intrusion? These are all perfectly legitimate questions to ask, but where do we go for the answers?

Help is at hand from Macmillan

Whilst attending the CIPD’s Annual Exhibition in Manchester last year, I spoke with two wonderful people from Macmillan Cancer Support who made me aware that Macmillan had published a ‘Work and Cancer Toolkit’ which has been specially designed for employers. I ordered one for myself and it was delivered free of charge a few weeks later.

What can I say… it’s a fantastic resource full of really useful hints and tips on how to manage cancer in the workplace. There’s even a DVD and a poster which signposts whom employees can contact within their organisation if they have cancer themselves or are supporting someone with cancer. Details of Macmillan’s support line is also provided.

I strongly recommend having this resource at your place of work and if you would like to order one take a look at the work and cancer resources on the Macmillan website.

Note that the support from Macmillan doesn’t end there! They also deliver specialist training via their website.