How many cancer patients waste their work expertise and experience during cancer treatment? How many are forced to quit their jobs as a result of being physically incapacitated? How can they be supported in the work place, so that cancer doesn't take from them their livelihoods and their future opportunities?
Many people manage to get through cancer treatment while still working. They make arrangements and handle the rigors with grace. But there are others for whom the personal cost of cancer treatment is much more severe.
If your loved one is struggling with this issue, consider a few things before throwing in the towel. Analyze the strengths and talents he or she brings to the job. It may help provide opportunities to keep working during cancer treatment. Can his or her employer provide administrative duties that allow your loved one to be productive while still conserving energy? Can your loved one reasonably scale back some of the normal responsibilities of the job, just long enough to allow the cancer treatments to have a positive effect?
Consider the plight of a teacher who may be going through chemotherapy. How can a school system accommodate the issues he or she might have? We know that kids often are a breeding ground for germs, and a teacher under chemotherapy treatment, with a weak immune system, really shouldn't be exposed to such risks. Is it possible for the school system to offer this teacher a temporary position, possibly as an educational coordinator, a developer of curriculum, or as a long-distance tutor? Maybe a teacher can teach home-bound students, via Skype or another Internet service. It not only cuts down on the risk of infection for the teacher, it provides a home-bound student with appropriate educational resources that might otherwise be missed. Having a teacher who is also a patient can be inspiring.
Sometimes it's hard for patients in the service industry to continue working. Chefs and cooks need to be physically capable of moving about in order to perform their duties. Restaurant work can be demanding. In the interim, what about your loved one working as a personal chef? If you pitch in and help with the grocery shopping and driving duties, would this work?
Nurses and other professionals who are going through cancer treatment have a difficult time remaining on the job in their normal capacities, but certainly there are other opportunities within the medical field, even on a temporary basis. Maybe your loved one can scale back his or her work load to a half day until physically capable of resuming a regular shift.
What about cancer patients who serve in law enforcement? Can't they also be accommodated in practical, useful ways by their employers? Certainly, it's not wise to send a cop out on the street if he or she can't run or keep up with the rest of the team, but there are always cases that could use another review by a seasoned investigator, who can pursue information that was never followed up, and even make phone calls to clarify cases. It's certainly not ideal, but having the opportunity to remain on the job in some form is usually preferable to being cut loose. Maybe there is a law enforcement study that needs doing, or community services that can be improved. It's important for cancer patients who are willing to work to be reasonably accommodated.
If your loved one has a job that allows for Internet communications, it may be possible for him or her to telecommute to work, handling a lot of the normal duties of the work place from home. Even if he or she needs to occasionally go to the office for important meetings, it makes it a lot less stressful if the bulk of the work can be done in between periods of rest. Salespeople, financial advisers, stockbrokers, and others can still function on the job, even if it's in a more limited capacity. Sometimes it's a matter of scaling back the number of clients who can be served, or joining with other colleagues to get the job done in the interim.
Real estate agents may feel they have few options while undergoing cancer treatment, but what about pairing with a partner during cancer treatments? If there is another agent who works part-time and is willing, why not share the load together? Maybe it's a mom who wants to be home for her kids or a retired realtor who doesn't want a full-time position. Your loved one could continue to work part-time, with a lot of the work done on the Internet. Having a partner could help make the sales.
It's important for your loved one to feel like he or she is able to stay abreast of developments in the field. That means keeping one's hand in the game somehow. By working part-time, even if it means job-sharing, it may allow your loved one to have a smoother transition back into the work force, when the cancer treatment is ended.
Another option is to take university classes for credit. There are a number of opportunities to pursue online education for people in many professions. Some employers would welcome the opportunity to allow cancer patients to use their down time to improve their professional skills. Some employers may even want to pay for these courses.
There are also times when employers appreciate creativity on the part of employees who show initiative. If your loved one has a special project he or she thinks will help the company or agency, why not encourage pursuit of this goal? Maybe your loved one had a great idea to try a new management training module, or wanted to develop a new client list. Now's the time to offer it up. Or maybe your loved one has an idea for a new product or service. Why not use the time during cancer treatment to do the research and put together a package?
Just because your loved one is going through cancer treatment and finds it too overwhelming to work full-time, that doesn't mean he or she has to retire or quit. Working is important to the psyche, and feeling like a contributing member of society is very important. Cancer patients just sometimes need support and accommodation to help them remain in the work place. Employers who recognize this and encourage it will often find that this is a win-win situation. Cancer patients are still living, breathing people with a lot to offer, and when they feel they have a future, they often will pour themselves into the opportunities they find.
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