Returning to work top concern for employees with cancer

Returning to work is the top ‘practical’ concern for employees going through a cancer diagnosis, research has found.

The poll of L&G (Legal & General) members referred to vocational rehabilitation provider Perci Health found this was the top concern for 83% of employees with cancer supported last year.

This was significantly ahead of the next two concerns: challenges with lifestyle activities (65%) and challenges with social activities (59%).

Interestingly, this top return-to-work concern did not seem to be directly associated with finances, said L&G. In fact, financial difficulties appeared in the bottom three practical concerns, cited by 28% of people, just ahead of relationship difficulties (26%) and difficulty speaking with children (12%).

The top ‘physical’ and ‘psychological’ effects of cancer, reported by employees supported, were reduced energy (91%) and anxiety (78%) respectively.

Of the L&G claimants discharged from Perci Health services last year, 87.2% undertook its vocational rehabilitation programme. The remainder were not ready for such support, and so were provided with access to a nurse and digital self-support, said L&G.

Vanessa Sallows, claims and governance director, retail group protection at L&G said: “The challenges faced by individuals with a cancer diagnosis are incredibly complex. To adequately address these challenges, we must provide integrated, specialist and personalised care, using the multidisciplinary (MDT) approach; all of this built into our protection offerings.

“In this way, we’re not only improving outcomes for the employees we’re covering and providing holistic support, but also addressing the wider impact of cancer in the workplace and wider society,” she added.

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