Workplace Wellbeing: We need policies that support workers through a cancer diagnosis

Irish Examiner

30-05-2025

'You have cancer." Approximately 44,000 people in Ireland hear these devastating words every year, and one in two of us can expect to hear them in our lifetimes.
That's according to the Irish Cancer Society's advocacy officer Suzanne Dowd, who warns that cancer can impact many people's careers.
'It's no longer a condition that only affects people in retirement,' she says. 'It can affect people of any age, including those in the working population. As more people are diagnosed and as more go on to live with or beyond cancer, they will have to be supported in continuing their lives and careers after active treatment.'
Patricia Thomas from Dublin had her career upended by cancer when she was diagnosed with mouth cancer in 2019.
'I'd been a full-on career person until then, working in sales, marketing and events,' says the 62-year-old. 'But when I got blisters in my mouth that wouldn't heal, my dentist sent me to my doctor and within weeks, a cancer diagnosis changed my life totally.'
Her cancer was aggressive and required surgery. Part of her tongue was amputated and reconstructed using tissue from her arm. She also needed 35 radiation sessions.
Her recovery was long. She couldn't use her mouth to eat, so she had to rely on a feeding tube for six months. She also had to learn to use her reconstructed tongue to speak, and her speech is still much slower than it used to be.
'That was hard,' she says. 'You become so self-conscious when you sound different.'
Her employers reacted well to her diagnosis. Thomas describes her manager's response as 'absolutely amazing'.
'She put her arms around me and told me she would do her best to support me,' she says. 'That was exactly what I needed to hear.'
Irish Cancer Society's advocacy officer Suzanne Dowd.
She also advised Thomas to take two weeks off work to adjust to the news and attend the necessary appointments. 'During that time, I was told I'd need surgery, and there was no time frame given for my recovery or even if there would be a recovery,' says Thomas.
She decided to leave her job as her future was so uncertain, but didn't realise at the time that she would never return to paid employment.
'It took me so long to heal, and I believed that trying to get back into marketing would have been too difficult, especially with my speech being affected,' she says.
'It might have been different if I'd had a desk job that didn't involve being on the phone and constantly interacting with people.'
Thomas now volunteers with cancer charities and is currently involved with a new initiative called Cancer Care at Work.
Driven by the marketing communications company Core and Purple House Cancer Support, it's the first community-based cancer support centre in Ireland. It provides practical advice and guidance to employers seeking to develop or refine their workplace cancer policies.
'I was lucky,' says Thomas. 'My company didn't have a cancer support policy but I did feel as if they cared about me. I know not everyone has that, and people who get diagnosed with cancer deserve better. Their employers should have policies to help.'
Support at work
Nicola Gillen is the chief of staff at Core and was 40 when she was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in 2023.
'I had to finish up at work in Cork soon after my diagnosis as I couldn't focus on anything,' she says. 'I then had six months of surgery followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which left my body feeling beaten, battered and bruised. It took me a year before I felt I had the stamina to return to work.'
Her company didn't have a workplace cancer policy, but like Thomas's, it was supportive. 'From the get-go, I was told not to worry and that my team would handle my responsibilities while I was out of work,' she says. 'And when I returned, I was encouraged to do so on a phased basis, gradually building up to a full working week.'
Research published by the Irish Cancer Society in 2021 shows that most people have a positive experience of returning to work after cancer, with seven in 10 survivors saying that their manager or organisation was supportive.
Nicola Gillen of CORE. Picture: Conor McCabe Photography.
However, this doesn't necessarily mean the experience is without challenges. 'Cancer and cancer treatment can cause a range of side-effects, the cumulative impact of which doesn't always hit you until afterwards,' says Dowd.
'Some 46% of respondents reported at least one barrier to returning to work. The most common were physical and psychological symptoms like tiredness, nausea and difficulty concentrating.'
Other challenges included being asked to undertake workloads beyond their capabilities and feeling as if managers or colleagues didn't understand their situation.
Gillen believes that having a workplace cancer policy would help employers and employees tackle these challenges. When she returned to work, her employers asked her and a colleague to create one for them.
'Together with Purple House Cancer Support, we carried out research between August 2024 and February 2025, interviewing 1,000 members of the public, 85 employers from different sectors in Ireland and employees who had experienced cancer,' she says. 'Our findings informed our policy and the Cancer Care at Work initiative, which aims to share what we have learned with organisations nationwide so that more people are supported by their employers if ever they have to deal with a cancer diagnosis.'
The Cancer Care at Work initiative recommends that four key areas be included in workplace cancer policies.
One is education and awareness to break down stigma and ensure that managers and teams know how to support colleagues who are diagnosed with cancer.
Two is physical supports, which often amount to reasonable accommodations that can be made to help people when they return to work. 'Things like giving them more breaks to sit down if they are on their feet all day or allowing them to work from home more often,' says Gillen.
Three is emotional supports, such as counselling services and peer support groups. And four is financial support, which can take the form of private health insurance or access to financial advice.
Policies for all illnesses
The Irish Cancer Society encourages all organisations to develop workplace cancer policies that cover these key areas. 'And not just cancer but all other serious illnesses,' says Dowd. 'Thinking ahead about how to communicate with your employees, how they may be facilitated to work during treatment if possible and how to return to the workplace post-treatment confidently will make the situation easier for everyone.'
She also points out that the Irish Cancer Society has a template policy that can be accessed at www.cancer.ie/employers-guidelines.
Thomas believes cancer patients and survivors will benefit from such policies. 'My managers were very supportive, but I think it would have helped me even more to know there was a policy,' she says.
'From the work I do volunteering with cancer charities now, I know that lots of people feel this way. Knowing you have support, even if it's just someone from work regularly checking in to see if there's anything they can do to help during your treatment and when you return to work, can make a big difference.'
Companies can learn more about workplace cancer policies at cancercareatwork.com. Information sessions on implementing these policies will be held throughout June.
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