Managing the performance of people affected by cancer
Here are a couple of case studies to get you thinking: can you spot what the employers should have done differently in the two case studies below?
Case 1:
A friend of mine, relatively new in a senior role, was diagnosed with cancer. Keen to keep on working during her chemo and with no real knowledge of what chemo was like, she committed to going into work for a couple of days a week. This worked well for a couple of cycles of chemotherapy but it soon became clear to her that, given the impact of her chemotherapy was cumulative, she wouldn’t be able to work the days to which she had committed. Her employer’s response was to start performance managing her for not fulfilling her commitments and not meeting her targets.
Case 2:
A client of mine returned to work following cancer treatment to find that her boss had requested a 360-degree appraisal of her in her absence. She returned to a meeting in her first week back with her boss and an HR representative, where she was confronted by anonymous and highly-critical comments from her boss and colleagues.
If you don’t see anything wrong in the above cases, please do two things:
1. For Case 1, have a careful read of…
Written for Macmillan Cancer Support, November 2016