Ahead of World Cancer Day, more than seven out of 10 employees (71%) living with cancer say they don’t get the support they would like from their employer, with their HR teams often ill-prepared or ill-equipped to help, and 35% are left feeling isolated and alone as a result.

The research from GRiD, the industry body for the group risk sector, was published ahead of World Cancer Day tomorrow (4 February).

It found seven out of 10 employers (69%) were concerned about the potential financial impact cancer could have on their organisational costs. More than half (54%) had noticed an increase in employees affected by cancer within their workforce.

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More than a quarter (27%) of the 500 employers polled also said they were concerned about the effects of juggling work with serious ill health, including cancer, among their Baby-boomer staff (or those born between 1946 and 1964).

A similar percentage (23%) had the same concern for their Gen X staff (1965-1980), 13% for their Millennial employees (1981-1996), and 11% for their Gen Z workforce (post-1996).

This concern about serious ill health, including cancer, was echoed by 18% of the 1,250 workers also polled, and had risen from 12% reported in the same poll last year. This rose to 27% of those aged over 55 (also up from 19% in 2024), said GRiD.

With World Cancer Day looming, Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD, said: “No matter how long an employee has had their worries or been going through tests, being given a formal cancer diagnosis is completely blindsiding.

“Therefore, employee cancer support needs to be both flexible and comprehensive to help the individual, and to also support their employer in helping staff, acting sensitively and making appropriate adjustments,” she added.

The research has come as the workplace nursing provider RedArc has highlighted that cancer is the condition for which it receives the most new cases.

Looking at data from the past five years (2020-2024 inclusive), RedArc received a third (33%) more new cancer cases than for the next most supported condition (mental health).

In fact, in 2024 alone, it received more than two new cancer cases for each individual mental health case, it said.

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