Day-to-Day Support

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Day-to-Day Support

Day-to-Day Support

As a manager, it's important that your worker with cancer feel your support, says Deborah Marsh, a human resources professional for a large company in Oregon.

With some workers, you will know they feel your support because of their expressions of gratitude. With others, you may have to ask to get some feedback: are you doing all you can for the person?

Simple kindnesses that don't require much effort or funds--if any--are often the best remembered. Among them, say HR experts, are these strategies:

Tell your worker she can use your private office for phone calls to her doctor. Getting the results of tests isn't easy. A worker may be ecstatic if it's good news but may be tearful if it's bad. Either way, it's best to hear such news in private.
Find a private room with a cot or create one. Then let your employee know about it, suggests Pamela Winters, a senior human resources professional and president of Professionals in Human Resources Assn. in Southern California. Ideally, it should be an inviting atmosphere, not a closet sized room or a room in a frantically busy area such as the medical office. For little money, you can add candles or a few live plants to make the room relaxing. Just knowing the cot and room are available can ease a worker's anxieties.
Keep the worker feeling "in the loop." Ideally, you've arranged for someone to send the worker newsletters or newsy emails while she has been off on medical leave. And you, as a manager, ideally have managed to stay in touch by phone or email once a week, the standard advice offered by HR experts. If not, figure out a way to get the worker up to speed on what's been happening at the office during her absence, experts suggest. You might call a brief meeting or do a one-on-one session, expressing your gratitude that she's back and letting her know that everyone's glad to see her, then filling her in.
On a day-to-day basis, be sure to respect your worker's wishes about discussions of the medical problem. Some employees will come back eager to share their war story and triumph over cancer. Others will be close-lipped and just want to get on with a normal work life. "A lot of people want their privacy respected," says Jerry Mattern, the human resources manager at a large printing company in Minnesota who serves as a national committee member for the Compensation and Benefits Committee of the Society for Human Resource Management, a national professional organization. "They don't want to be looked at like they are 'walking cancer' or contagious." If you can't read your worker--whether she wants to divulge details or be discreet--ask.
Communicate the worker's wishes with the rest of the staff . "Talk to your other employees so they can make it a smooth transition," Winters says. "Some people go out of their way to make the person feel comfortable," she says, while others are not so accommodating. If you have a worker who doesn't want to be asked about their medical status, be sure to tell other employees that, Winters adds. Make it plain and simple, such as: "This person doesn't want to be asked every day, 'How are you doing?'"
Provide an outlet when she needs to talk. Acknowledging that a worker with cancer has an ongoing need to talk to someone is vital, too, says Andrea Booth, who has worked in large companies as an HR professional and is now an independent consultant based in Southern California and New Jersey. A worker may not be comfortable talking to you, her manager, so be prepared to hook her up with someone in HR, she advises.