The financial and behavioural impacts of not managing an employee's cancer diagnosis

According to the Australian Cancer Research Foundation, the most common cancers for people aged 25 to 49 years is breast cancer for women and melanoma for men. For those aged 50 to 65 year olds, the most common cancers are breast cancer for woman and prostate cancer for men.

With improved patient awareness, the incidence of a cancer diagnosis is increasing, which means it’s inevitable your organisation will have employees or managers who experience a cancer diagnosis during their working life. With earlier detection, survival is as high as 90% in some cancers, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Meaning many people who have been diagnosed are both willing and able to return to work following treatment.

This article has been written to assist you and other managers within your business or organisation to understand how to best manage an employees cancer diagnosis while minimising the financial and behavioural impacts this can have on your business or organisation.

Let me share a real-life story with you….

Jenny was an employee who was called into the office and informed by her manager that she wasn’t performing to expectations or hitting her targets. Following initial conversations She was put on a performance review plan. Jenny had been diagnosed with breast cancer 6 months prior and had made her employer aware. She had decided to opt for surgery and chemotherapy treatment. She didn’t lose her hair and was given medication to combat the nausea effects from the chemotherapy.

She was toward the end of her treatment, and was doing well so was coming into work most days and working from home on the days she was receiving treatment. During this time coming into the office, she developed a cold, it started off as sniffles and a sore throat and developed quickly. Some staff members had been coming to work when they or their children were sick. With Jenny’s immune system so low she ended up becoming quite ill and was pushing herself to keep on going into work because that was the perceived expectation. Because her treatment was going well, the nature of the company to “just push through it” she continued to come to work every day but was often unable to concentrate and was becoming very lethargic and not able to combat the cold she had developed.

Her manager who had called her in to discuss her performance had little understanding of what cancer treatment could do to an individual and how a person’s immunity can be impacted. The manager felt it was Jenny’s performance and output that was not up to standard.

For Jenny, the need for a performance review added to the immense stress she was already facing. Jenny felt under so much stress that she left the job. She said that she felt her cancer diagnosis had highlighted that her health was important and she needed to focus on getting better, rather than having to go through the expectations and pressure that came with her performance review.

If her manager had known how to manage that situation better, Jenny wouldn’t have been put on a performance review but instead asked what support she needed until she could get back to a level where she felt she could perform as expected again.

In this circumstance, no one won. Jenny felt she was left with no choice but to leave a job she had been loyal to and the organisation now had the task of recruiting a replacement.

Understanding the behavioural impacts on the business

A lack of policy and action plan in place for employees during cancer treatment can have a wider impact across an entire business. When someone leaves an organisation under circumstances like Jenny’s, it lowers the morale of the whole team, possibly the whole company. There is inevitably an impact on the team as others need to take on additional tasks to fill in for the person who has left. Additionally, to see a person who is trying their hardest feel as though they need to leave the organisation certainly takes its toll on the culture within the business or organisation. Naturally people cannot help but empathise and think, ‘What if it weren’t Jenny, but instead me?’

This is where education pieces for the whole team can assist. By looking at circumstances like these from the wider lens of the wellness of all team members, management can be prepared and proactive in planning how they approach performance management for all employees when sick, whether from a cancer diagnosis or another illness. Rather than having a culture that encourages employees to “soldier on”, there could be education and acceptance in informing staff that if they are sick they shouldn’t come into the office, particularly in an environment with someone who is undergoing cancer treatment including those who are not visibly unwell.

The financial impacts of not having a policy or plan in place

On average, it takes 42 days to fill a vacant role, get them up to speed with training and recruitment costs come to an average of $5,000 as a minimum, obviously with a highly skilled role, this can take and cost much more. Aside from looking at the cost of hiring a new staff member to replace someone that has left, in circumstances like Jenny’s, there is potential for legal and financial consequences.

If an individual has explained that they have a medical condition and the medical condition wasn’t taken into consideration when a performance review was done, legally the employee could decide to take the case to court.

Minimise the impact within your business or organisation

With 1 in 2 people being diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, Jenny’s experience is not uncommon. Businesses and organisations are starting to recognise the difficulties people face in all facets of their life and how serious illness can impact people in the business in many other ways than just physically.

As a business or organisation, you can minimise these risks when you have a proactive program in place that educates managers and leaders in your business. It is vital to develop a policy and to create procedures and protocols that can be put in place when a staff member advises of their cancer or life-altering illness diagnosis. This plan helps to reduce the risk of losing the staff member from the business altogether and ensures the individual gets the support they need to either continue to work during their treatment, or to determine a return to work approach, as appropriate to their circumstances.

MyMuse can help your business to co-design a policy and program that will allow you to communicate the needs of your staff, give you the chance to engage bond with your management team as well as demonstrate that you are a business that cares. This process will also help you gain insights into the best practices in enhancing people’s experience in your workplace and help you become a better, more proactive employer of choice.

MyMuse works with businesses and organisations across Australia and New Zealand. To discuss your needs or learn what is involved in co-designing a workshop or program with the MyMuse team of experts, phone on 0420 790 091 or fill in this contact form and we will be in touch shortly.

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