Time off for cancer

[Angels1111]

What is your work policy like regarding time off for cancer?

I always assumed one would go off sick from the day of diagnosis to the day the doctor announces you're in remission.

But, I have a friend who goes into work when she can between treatments because "she doesn't want to run out of sick days". She's a nurse, on her feet all day, and powers through with energy drinks and breakroom naps, only missing days when she really can't do it.

In her support group, another has carried on working so she isn't in the limelight for redundancy, and another to keep her mind off how sick she feels.
The rest are retired.

...it just surprises me as it's such a brutal disease...and I thought surely the body needs a rest to recover properly and sickness policies should allow for this?
I also thought the sickness, pain, fatigue and anxiety would be too distracting for people to.work, but apparently not!

Not everyone gets paid when they are off sick.

I think people will do what they are comfortable with and work policies are not that generous for time off in all companies.
For some the normal routine may be welcome.

My work gives full pay for six months, and yet people will not take it until really feel it’s needed.

I feel for people who feel they have no choice though due to financial reasons

I have known two people personally who have continued to work with breast cancer. They have taken time off for treatment and dipped back into work when they have felt well enough. Everyone is different and there is no right or wrong way for people to manage their lives when fighting cancer.

Some people find routine helpful.
That said, my work policy would be 6 months full pay, then up to additional 18 months 75% pay. It very generous.

It will probably depend on the type of treatment a person is receiving as well. Some treatments are more invasive and have massive recovery times; others not so.

Yeh I totally get peoplechoosing to work
..I can imagine if I didn't have DC to keep me occupied, sitting and thinking about my diagnosis/treatment for 6 months wouldn't be healthy .
What surprised me was the lack of compensation if they wanted to take time off

Some people are worried about not being paid, losing their job, or having too much time on their hands to think about the worst case scenario if they don’t work.

People should really be doing whatever is best for them.

Yeah that's true

I only took time off after surgery, worked throughout chemo except for the actual treatment time itself and normally the Monday after treatment. Get 6 months full pay but didn’t want to be off when I didn’t feel I needed to. Only my large blocks of time after 3 x ops was ever recorded as sick leave. My chemo was never put through as sick I just went AWOL as and when I needed to.

It depends. I’m in treatment myself, didn’t go off at diagnosis even though mentally it was hard I had to sort a handover. There’s also a lot of waiting between appointments where work is a good distraction if I’m honest. Also, my sick leave policy is pretty good but not incredible, and anything can happen while pending results etc, so I didn’t want to waste the paid sick pay too soon.

Saying all of that work have been wonderful and my duties stripped right back. I know I’m very lucky in this regard.

Cancer is not one thing. It's a group of conditions. So one person's cancer experience is not someone else's. Likewise treatments vary. Some are debilitating, and some have long periods where the person can feel quite normal, and work.

And yes, different companies and professions offer different amounts of paid sick leave. My DD gets six months of full pay and six months of half pay. Her DH would be on the tiny amount of statutory sick pay after a few days, however serious his illness.

My colleague/friend had cancer and she came back to work after the diagnosis because she felt well enough.

She had a long course of radiotherapy and only went off sick when the side effects got too bad, and then returned to work when they weren't.

I think mostly it caused her to have diarrhoea which was obviously not compatible with work, and she couldn't work from home.

1 in 2 people will get cancer of some form. People can live with it for decades. Companies can’t afford that.

While a lot of places give six months on full pay, what happens when that runs out? A colleague was on three weekly chemo cycles, so had one week off sick, one week wfh, and one week in the office. Her treatment lasted a lot longer than six months. Frankly she didn’t want to suddenly find she couldn’t pay the mortgage because she’d taken sick leave when she could have managed.

Statutory sick pay only lasts for a certain length of time and may havealready used alot of this before getting diagnosis.

Depending on financial circumstances,you can claim.some benefits but not likely to match your income from working.

Also, working can helpyour mental health,in keeping going, bring part of society.

Some people will feel well in themselves. Others - really ill.

I've a friend who had, in the scheme of cancers an.early caught relatively simple to treat cancer. However she took the full 6 months off at full pay citing the impact on her mental health.
I've other friends with stage 4 terminal diagnoses who work as they can out of choice!

What employer has unlimited sick leave? I see this at work, realistically most people might take a couple of days off around diagnosis and then are strategic in waiting until treatment starts, taking time if needed over chemo or such, and then again if surgery is needed.

Financially it isn't really possible. Remission can take months, usually longer. People still have bills to pay. Life is tough, cruel and unfair

I worked in HR and see a lot of employees in this situation. Some people feel well enough to work at different stages during their treatment. Working can help take their mind off things.

Most companies are flexible in terms of what the employee can do and allow more WFH, as they're immune systems are low.

My previous company had a maximum of 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay, once they had 5 years service.

I worked thought cancer treatment, except for hospital admissions and really bad days. I was more tired so took it a bit easier. Some cancer treatments take years to go into remission.
I’m actually sicker now with long covid than I was with cancer. I can’t work at all now

Is she a nurse in the nhs? I thought they had a generous sickness policy like 6 months full pay, 6 months half pay but could be wrong.

my colleague was diagnosed with breast cancer last November and isn’t coming back to work until next march. My friend had breast cancer and worked throughout but on a reduced workload and from home as she was new to the company and didn’t want to take much sick leave. I think it’s entirely dependent on the diagnosis and even a diagnosis of a certain type of cancer eg breast cancer can be so different from person to person and the treatment really varies.

Are you based in the UK OP? Most workplaces have limits on the amount of paid sick leave someone can take - and that’s usually in a 4 year rolling period too - ie if someone took their full 6 months pay off (if they even get that) it would be 4 years later until the sick leave balance as fully restored again. Many can’t afford to have unlimited time off work - it’s crap but that’s why folk take out critical
illness cover (again if they can afford it)

NHS is notoriously poor for their sickness policy, they have a staged system which I think in theory is meant to be reviews to see if you need support but in reality acts as a warning. My friend is a nurse and is constantly worried about taking time off if she's been off sick within the last X months because a certain number of days would mean hitting stage 2.

I'm public sector and while the organisation would be supportive, the pay would be 3 months full and 3 months half then unpaid. That could disappear pretty quickly and has to be used wisely. My DH in his corporate job would get far less.

DH continued to work full time during chemotherapy but was allowed to work from home. His works sickness policy was 6 months full pay but he knew he needed intensive inpatient treatment later so wanted to save the paid time for that.

it surely also depends on the type and what treatment is needed. I would not expect everyone to go off sick as soon as diagnosed and until remission. Many can work through various stages of treatment. also, not everyone can take endless sick leave given how low statutory sick pay is.

We were told DH was terminal from the outset but he continued to work. He had time off for the major surgery he needed (Whipple's), returned to work after 10 weeks recovery then worked between chemo sessions. Not going to work wasn't an option for him, he needed to work to get paid and he wanted to stay with the company as he was convinced he was going to be one of the 7% that survive past 5 years