Talking to your employer about cancer
Tips for opening up about your health at work - from what your rights are to how to talk to your employer and what to do if you decide to stop working.
Everyone’s approach to work and cancer is slightly different, because everyone’s experience of cancer is slightly different. You might change how you work, or stop working completely. After a cancer diagnosis, you’re covered by the Equality Act 2010, meaning you’re protected against discrimination in the workplace. If you decide to go back to work, your employer should make any reasonable adjustments to help you do your job as effectively as possible. This can help you deal with any long term side effects you might be experiencing. If you decide not to return to work, it might bring up lots of feelings. Talking about this might help you make sense of it.
Returning to work after a cancer diagnosis can be a huge part of your recovery. Whether you’re receiving ongoing treatment or are learning to live with any long-term impacts of your illness, figuring out how to talk to your employer about your health is crucial.
You may choose to continue working during and after your treatment, but this isn’t always an option. You might need time off for treatment or follow up appointments. You may also have questions or concerns when applying for or starting a new job.
It’s important that you discuss you're everything with your workplace and find out what options they have in place to support you.
What you decide to do about work after your treatment finishes depends on a few things. You may:
- Stop working for a while until you feel ready to go back
- Work reduced hours or with reasonable adjustments
- Change jobs or careers
- Stop working because of your health
- Stop working to focus on other parts of your life
After your diagnosis, you're covered and protected by The Equality Act 2010. This means if you have, have had or are caring for someone who has cancer, you’re protected from discrimination in the workplace and wider society. You're not only covered when in employment, but during the recruitment process. Find out more about what this means for you.
Deciding to return to work
Getting back to work can:
- Increase your self confidence
- Help you get back into a routine
- Create a feeling of normality
- Help you be more financially secure
- Help you feel more like your peers
But you might have concerns about what the reality of this looks like. You might be worried about how you’ll cope with side effects, how you’ll manage your workload and how you’ll feel about being in the workplace. Thinking about how to approach your return in advance can help.
Returning to work with or beyond a cancer diagnosis is a big step. It isn’t for everyone. But knowing what to expect and what your employer must do to help you is helpful as part of the decision making.
If you decide to go back to work, you can create a return-to-work plan to explore working hours, work load, responsibilities and more. This is a flexible approach which helps you decide what your work will look like. You should meet with your manager regularly in case anything needs to change.
Coping with side effects
When you’re living life alongside cancer, you might be living with ongoing side-effects from treatment. It may be that these impact your work. These can include:
- Fatigue (tiredness) for months or years after treatment
- Restricted movement
- Pain
- Eating problems
- Needing to use the toilet more often
- Feeling self-conscious about your appearance
- Emotional and mental difficulties
As part of the Equality Act, your employer should help you by making reasonable adjustments if you feel you need a bit more support.
Reasonable adjustments
Reasonable adjustments is the formal name for some of the things your employer might do to help you settle back into work.
You don’t have to let your employer know you have or have had cancer, but letting them know means they can tackle things that might not be helpful to you and your recovery.
These adjustments can include:
- A phased return to work
- A change in your working hours or working patterns so you can avoid commuting or work in the best way for you
- Time off for appointments
- Altering your job description to reduce the tasks which are difficult for you
- Changing performance targets to allow for sick leave and side effects
- Extra breaks to help you manage fatigue
- Physical aids to help you do your work
- Offering a quiet place to rest if you need it
- Making the toilet as accessible as possible
- Installation of apps or software to make it easier to do your job, such as dictation apps
Reasonable adjustments don’t have a fixed description. If you think the adjustment will help you, is practical, affordable, low impact and doesn’t affect resources, it’s worth chatting to your manager.
Not returning to work
Returning to work after a cancer diagnosis or treatment isn’t for everyone. You may want to focus on treatment, time with your loved ones or on other things that make you happy. This change can bring up a lot of feelings – and that’s OK. Try to let people know how you’re feeling if you’re dealing with a lot of emotions about not going back to work. You might find it helpful to chat to a counsellor or therapist.
Check out our resources on work and cancer below
Lifting the Lid on work and cancer
Other helpful sites
Working with Cancer: a social enterprise that supports people affected by cancer to successfully return to work, remain in work or find work. They provide coaching, training and consultancy advice to employees, working carers and employers to help them understand how to manage work and cancer. Their Associates are all cancer survivors, or have been working carers, and are trained professionals with wide-ranging business experience and expertise.
Macmillan Cancer Support: Macmillan aims to help everyone with cancer live life as fully as they can, providing physical, financial and emotional support. They offer loads of advice and guidance around working with cancer.
Astriid: Astriid helps bridge the gap between the Invisible Talent Pool (people who have long-term conditions but who wish to use their skills and experience in work), and the UK skills crisis. The platform matches talented candidates with prospective employers, providing accessible work opportunities for those who are seeking them. In this way, they hope to make the Invisible Talent Pool, Visible.
Other resources
Need support with menopause and its side effects because of cancer or treatment? We've got you.
Cancer and its treatments will undoubtedly cause many changes in your life. One change you might not have anticipated at the outset is going through the menopause early. Check out our tips for managing your menopause.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. We wanted to share some resources which might be useful for those living life alongside Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Conversations around cancer aren't always easy. Whether you're talking to your pals, loved ones, partner or even your medical team, knowing how to deal with topics that might feel tricky can go a long way in helping you manage your relationships. Check out our top tips for having those difficult conversations.
Whether you're dating, in a serious relationship, having a bit of fun or committed to be together for the rest of your lives, when your partner's diagnosed with cancer it can bring some big challenges along. Suddenly you've both got a lot to deal with. Working out how to support each other, and yourselves, is key for moving forward.
Lifting the Lid aims to create a safe environment to delve into important topics, while letting our community of people living life alongside cancer know that there are experts on hand who understand their experiences. Check out the full library
.avif)
If you’re the parent of someone in our community with cancer, we know there’s not a lot of information out there to support you. We explore how you might be feeling, how you can help and how to take care of yourself in amongst it all.
When you’re in your 20s or 30s and you’re diagnosed with cancer, lots of things change. One of the things you’ve told us can be most difficult, is navigating friendships in life alongside cancer. We unpick the gnarly topic of friendship and cancer, offering tips and advice for managing your relationships.
Whether you love it or hate it, exercising beyond a cancer diagnosis can be hugely beneficial. We look at the things that might be stopping you from exercising and help unpick how to tackle them
Sean was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma when he was 28. At the time, he was a self-employed personal trainer and found that his cancer caused paralysing pain. Now, Sean is back on his fitness journey and has joined us as a RENEW trainer. He shares the story of his experience from patient to cancer exercise specialist with us.
What do you need to know about food and cancer? It's the wild, wild West out there, so we worked with some brill experts and friends to bring you everything you need to know. Our guide is a no-nonsense, evidence based guide designed with you in mind.
Navigating sex and cancer is a minefield. Whether you’re trying to do the deed after diagnosis, you’re living with cancer or you’re in the realms of that elusive new normal we hear so much about, the truth is, the whole thing can be, well...Tricky. Here's our tips on sex and cancer
Parenting is tough enough without adding cancer into the mix. While there's no single formula that can make parenting through cancer easy; there are some practical tools, strategies, resources and services that can help.
Receiving a cancer diagnosis in your 20s or 30s is hard enough. When you are from the LGBTQIA+ community there can be a number of issues you may face. One of these may be your sex life and sexual health. Stewart from LGBTQIA+ cancer support charity OUTpatients and experts share their tips and advice that can help you navigate sex after cancer.
Menopause is a common but not often discussed side effect of breast cancer treatment. Stacey didn't realise how much her menopausal symptoms were impacting her until she joined Trekstock's menopause programme.
.avif)
Lydia's cancer diagnosis when she was 24 meant she had to undergo a complete hysterectomy – having her uterus and cervix removed. As a result, she found herself facing the menopause. Here’s her story on how she’s reached an understanding with her symptoms.
Exercise and cancer don't seem like ideal partners. But the truth is they go together exceptionally well. Exercise has tonnes of benefits for those going through cancer treatment and living with any long term impacts. Exercise physiologist Tom Cowan explains the benefits of exercising with cancer and shares the best ways to make it work for you.
.jpg)
Living life alongside cancer when you’re in your 20s or 30s brings its own unique set of challenges. But we exist to help you make the most of the parallel lives you’re living as both patient and person. Here’s a rundown of everything we offer.
We're able to consume more content and information than ever before. A world of news, dating apps and online shopping is always just a few seconds away. But humans have not evolved to handle this kind of consumption. We're still in the process of figuring out what exactly it does to us. This year's Men's Mental Health Week is focusing on the internet and its impact on male mental health
There are loads of ways to nurture body confidence, even with cancer in the mix. We're here to support you every step of the way, providing resources to enhance both your physical and mental well-being. Together, we can help you embrace self-love and find a sense of comfort in your own skin, even in the face of cancer.
So you’ve just been told you’ve got cancer. And then you’re told your ability to have kids in the future might be impacted too. Because cancer’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Finding out you might be infertile because of your cancer treatment can have a huge emotional impact. Even if kids are the last thing on your mind, making sense of having this decision taken away from you is important. If you’re experiencing fertility issues and it’s impacting your mental health, it’s OK. There are people and organisations out there designed to help.
Just because you've been diagnosed with cancer during your education doesn't mean you should be held back. Here's everything you need to know about living life alongside cancer and education
.webp)
Ambassador Carolina shares what the Trekstock community means to her and how she found support from people who'd been through cancer treatment at a young age.
Because navigating friendships in your 20s or 30s is hard enough without cancer.
No matter who you are, the physical changes that might occur because of cancer or its treatments can be really difficult. Whether you're dealing with nausea, hair loss, early menopause or anything else, learning how to manage these impacts is key to a better quality of life.
Cancer’s an emotional rollercoaster. It’s OK to find it tough to cope.