Employment plays an important role in cancer recovery, finds L&G

A return to work was the top ‘practical’ concern (83%) for employees with cancer, research from a report by Legal & General (L&G) and Perci Health has found.

This concern appeared significantly ahead of the following two concerns, which were challenges with lifestyle activities (65%) and challenges with social activities (59%).

Interestingly, the report revealed that the return to work concern did not seem to be directly associated with finances.

In fact, financial difficulties appeared in the bottom three practical concerns, cited by 28% of people, just ahead of relationship difficulties (26%) and difficulty speaking with children (12%).

The top ‘physical’ and ‘psychological’ effects of cancer, reported by employees supported, were reduced energy (91%) and anxiety (78%) respectively.

Vanessa Sallows, claims and governance director, retail group protection at L&G, said: “The challenges faced by individuals with a cancer diagnosis are incredibly complex.

“To adequately address these challenges, we must provide integrated, specialist and personalised care, using the multidisciplinary (MDT) approach; all of this built into our protection offerings.

“In this way, we’re not only improving outcomes for the employees we’re covering and providing holistic support, but also addressing the wider impact of cancer in the workplace and wider society.”