Planning For Work

Before you talk in-depth to your employer and colleagues, it’s wise to talk to your medical team specifically about how your illness may affect the way you do your job. Be open with your doctor and specialist nurse. They will have experienced similar problems with many other patients.

Tip

Talk to other women who have been through the same experience and ask for their suggestions and advice. Some specialist nurse teams have implemented schemes such as phone-back services to patients after chemotherapy; this means that any side effects can be dealt with quickly. Ideally, you, your medical team and your employer should be working together. The goal is to collaborate over treatment plans that are good for your health, your job and your home life.

Here are suggestions for things to discuss with your medical team:

• Explain exactly what your current job is and what it demands of you – physically, mentally and emotionally.
• Ask for information about how your diagnosis and treatment, including possible surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments, and follow-ups, could affect your energy levels, your mood and your ability to do this particular job.
• In particular, be sure to discuss the side effects of treatments and drugs you will be receiving, how they can be managed and if there is any degree of flexibility open to you – such as taking drugs at a different time, or having chemotherapy before a weekend so you have time to recover.
• Ask about how much time they think you are likely to need off work for treatment and convalescence.
• Schedule regular meetings to review these issues and be prepared to be flexible as time goes by.

Creating Your Action Plan and Liaising With Your Employer

With the information you now have, draw up a draft action plan to discuss with your employer and make appointments to see the relevant people.  Depending on the size of your particular company, its structure and whole approach to employees, you may find that you need to talk to several people in different parts of the organisation, including your boss/es, human resources and/or occupational health managers, and possibly a welfare programme manager. Ask if your company has policies in place for such events; some companies term them disability management programmes.  According to a survey by Macmillan Cancer Relief, more than two thirds of people working with cancer felt their employers did everything they could to help them.  When you are dealing with people at work, be organised, positive and realistic: in short, professional. Be clear and concise about your condition and be prepared to answer questions about your physical, mental and emotional state. One tip is to print out several copies of your (double-spaced) draft action plan, with a subsidiary plan for organising your workload when you take time off, so that you can give them to relevant personnel.  Remember: the key is to prioritise, prioritise, prioritise!  NB Do minute your meeting/s (even if your employer does, too) and type up the notes. If your employer doesn’t send you written confirmation of what you agree, do it yourself.

Points for your action plan

• Time off for ongoing treatment and convalescence: discuss how long this is likely to take and how you can fit this in with your workload.
• A reduced, altered or more flexible schedule: modern technology means that many employees can work effectively at home for part of the time, coming into the work place when it’s most important and avoiding the additional stress of rush-hour travelling.
• Talk about increasing your hours and commitments as you start to feel better.
• List practical changes that can be made to your work station
• If you are going to need specific office equipment, such as another phone line at home, software for a home computer or a new office chair, discuss who can help you set this up.
• Discuss financial arrangements.
• Discuss who will talk to your colleagues about the situation. You may wish to do this or ask your employer to designate someone sensitive with a good understanding of cancer and the effects of treatment, who can also deal with the reactions of those being told.

Taking Time Off

• List the project/s you are responsible for, the other staff who are involved, current status of the project/s, any deadlines, and what you can realistically complete.
• Be honest and delegate. It’s better for everyone that the work gets done well, efficiently and on time – not necessarily by you.
• Talk to your boss and/or colleagues about sharing the work; it may be best to have one person covering for you, or you may be able to assign single projects or clients to each of your colleagues.
• Liaise with clients and co-workers in other companies about what is happening.

Name a contact person

While you’re away, there are bound to be questions arising on a daily basis, however organised you’ve been. You won’t want to be telephoned or e-mailed continuously, so naming a contact person who can process questions and problems is vital.

• Choose someone sensible for the task, who you trust to know what’s important, what can wait or what has to be redirected to another worker. If you already have a PA, departmental administrative assistant or someone covering for you, they will probably be the most appropriate choice.
• Discuss the situation with them and agree on priority clients, projects, etc, and also when is the best time/s to update you.
• Make sure to tell colleagues and clients who your contact person is and how to get in touch with them.
• Devise a system for managing mail/e-mails, etc, with your colleagues and contact person.

If You’re Self Employed

The upside of being self-employed is that you may well work at home, or nearby, and you probably have a degree of flexibility in organising your schedule and workload as you choose. The same principles of making an action plan and talking to the people who employ you apply, but you will need to adapt them to your particular situation. If you don’t have any back-up staff to call on, you will need to explore ways of delegating to trusted contacts (local is often helpful) who can support you on a temporary basis as and when you need it.  Talking to others who have been or are going through the same experience is invaluable here.

Continuing to work

For some people, continuing to work as much as possible during their treatment – from home, and even from a hospital bed – helps to provide a sense of connection and stability.