Returning to work after cancer takes more than a fit note
For reward, benefits and wellbeing leaders, a fit note should be the start of a supported return-to-work conversation, not the end of it. Employees coming back after cancer treatment may be signed off as fit, but still managing fatigue, side effects, anxiety or fluctuating capacity.
As health and wellbeing strategies become more closely linked to resilience, retention and inclusive benefits design, cancer support needs to move beyond goodwill and into structured employer planning.
Cancer incidence rates among 25 to 49-year-olds in the UK increased by 22% between the early 1990s and 2018, making this an increasingly relevant workforce issue.
There is no single cancer experience
As Barbara Wilson, Founder and CEO of Working With Cancer, said: “There is no single cancer experience. With more than 200 types of cancer, two people can have the same diagnosis and treatment yet experience very different physical and psychological effects. Recovery is rarely linear, so employers need flexible policies and managers who understand individual needs.”
Standard phased returns and one-off check-ins may help with process, but they rarely give reward and benefits teams enough visibility of whether support is genuinely working for the individual, the manager or the wider team.
The end of active treatment can be difficult for employers to judge. Side effects may continue or begin afterwards, including treatment-related menopause symptoms, lymphoedema, nerve damage and fatigue. If support stops at return, employers risk avoidable absence, presenteeism and disengagement.
Benefits strategy needs to translate into practical support
Most large employers have policies for serious illness, but many are not cancer-specific. Working With Cancer research found that only 4% of organisations have a specific cancer policy, despite 45% of HR managers feeling they needed one.
Common gaps appear when policies sit separately from day-to-day line-manager guidance; when return plans are driven by a date rather than capacity; and when employee assistance, occupational health, PMI, group risk, wellbeing and carer support are not connected around the employee’s needs.
Research also shows that over half of patients have no return-to-work discussion with occupational health or HR, leaving employees and managers to navigate decisions that should be supported by a joined-up benefits and wellbeing framework.
What reward and benefits teams can do
Employers should treat a return-to-work plan as a flexible framework, not a fixed schedule. Planning should begin during treatment and be reviewed as symptoms, treatment and circumstances change.
Managers need practical guidance on absence, phased returns, confidentiality, the Equality Act and referral routes into occupational health, EAPs, clinical navigation or specialist cancer support.
For REBA’s audience, the opportunity is to make cancer support part of an integrated health and benefits strategy: clear policy, trained managers, accessible clinical and emotional support, flexible adjustments, and support for carers and colleagues affected by the diagnosis.
Practical support across the cancer journey
Cancer is now an established workplace issue as well as a health and wellbeing priority. Poor return-to-work support can lead to repeat absence, lost experience, low morale and avoidable employment risk.
Employers need benefits that work together across prevention, early detection, treatment, recovery and return to work.
Healix Health’s Cancer Care Performance Pathway connects prevention, early detection, nurse-led navigation, treatment support and return-to-work planning across the cancer journey.
Supplied by REBA Associate Member, Healix Health
The UK's leading independent corporate healthcare trust provider.
