患癌癥并不意味著職業(yè)生涯的終結

When Jemil Butt learnt he had lymphoma he focused on his treatment and tried to forget about work. But he found solitude did not suit him. He missed the office where he worked as a project manager — and not having tasks to distract him made him feel worse. “I made a decision early on that, for me, the measure of being normal again is my ability to do my job,” he says.

當杰米爾·巴特得知自己罹患淋巴瘤時，他專心治療，試圖忘記工作。但他發(fā)現(xiàn)獨處并不適合自己。他懷念當項目經理時的辦公室——沒有工作分散注意力，讓他感覺更糟。“我很早就做了決定，對我來說，康復的標準就是我還能工作，”他說。

Mr Butt was diagnosed with cancer in 2015. Despite a relapse in 2016 and a stem-cell transplant last year, the 36-year-old, who works for AXA Insurance in the UK, says that having things other than hospital appointments in his diary is part of his recovery.

巴特在2015年被診斷出癌癥。盡管2016年復發(fā)過一次并在去年進行了干細胞移植，這位任職于英國安盛保險的36歲男人說，除了醫(yī)院預約，在日程里還有別的安排也是他康復的一部分。

He enjoys office life, but has had to make adjustments because of his impaired immune system. Before his illness he gave germs little thought. Now he avoids handshakes and desk-sharing, and carries antiseptic wipes to clean door handles. “It sounds a bit OCD, and probably is, but psychologically it’s a win, and to be honest in between treatments I don’t often go sick.”

他喜歡辦公室生活，但由于免疫系統(tǒng)受損，他不得不做出調整。在生病之前，他很少考慮細菌。現(xiàn)在他避免握手和共用辦公桌，并隨身攜帶消毒濕巾來清潔門把手。“這聽起來有點強迫癥，可能是吧，但從心理上來說這是一種勝利。老實說，在治療之間我并不經常生病。”

In the UK, Macmillan Cancer Support estimates there are 890,000 working-age people living with cancer. It found that 85 per cent of workers diagnosed with the disease say that continuing to work is important to them, but the global statistics are discouraging.

在英國，麥克米蘭癌癥基金會估計有89萬罹患癌癥的勞動年齡人口。該基金會調查發(fā)現(xiàn)，85%的患癌勞動者表示，繼續(xù)工作對他們很重要，但全球統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)令人沮喪。

According to a 2009 meta-analysis of international research, cancer survivors are 1.4 times more likely to be unemployed than other people. That adds up to a lot of wasted experience. As David Shutts, founder of Astriid, a skills-matching platform for people with chronic illnesses, observes: “A skilled engineer with cancer is still a skilled engineer.”

2009年一項針對國際研究情況的綜合性分析顯示，癌癥幸存者失業(yè)的可能性是其他人的1.4倍。這意味著大量經驗被浪費。正如面向慢性病患者的技能匹配平臺Astriid的創(chuàng)始人戴維·舒茨所言：“一位患有癌癥的技術熟練的工程師仍是一位技術熟練的工程師。”

Whether from a desire for privacy or fear of dismissal, some people choose not to tell their employer they have cancer. Instead, they try to muddle through and use holiday time to undergo treatments. Such reactions are understandable — almost a fifth of workers with cancer say they experience discrimination, according to Macmillan. But Barbara Wilson, founder of Working With Cancer, a social enterprise, warns that employees who conceal their disease weaken their rights.

不論是出于隱私考慮還是害怕被解雇，一些人選擇不告訴雇主自己得了癌癥。相反，他們試圖勉強對付過去，并利用假期時間接受治療。他們這么做可以理解——麥克米蘭癌癥基金會稱，有將近五分之一的癌癥患者表示他們受到歧視。但社會企業(yè)Working With Cancer的創(chuàng)始人芭芭拉·威爾森(Barbara Wilson)警告說，隱瞞疾病的雇員等于削弱了自身的權利。

The sickness rules and benefits that companies operate can affect how people cope with cancer. For Mr Butt, payments from a critical illness policy eased the worry about how to pay the bills. For many people, he says, “struggling with money is a significant part of the plight”.

公司實行的疾病政策和福利會影響人們應對癌癥的方式。對巴特來說，一份重疾保單給予的賠付緩解了他償還賬單的顧慮。他說，對許多人而言，“為錢犯難是困境的一個重要部分”。

Having some guidelines for managers to follow is helpful, says Linda Aiello, who heads international HR at the cloud software company Salesforce, but the biggest need is to treat employees as individuals. There are about 200 cancers, and each will affect people differently. “There’s not a playbook that works in every situation,” she says. Training managers to support team members with cancer is also crucial, although few companies do, according to research.

云軟件公司Salesforce國際人力資源主管琳達·艾洛表示，給予管理者一些可遵循的指導方針是有幫助的，但最需要做的是將員工作為獨立的個體對待。世界上大約有200種癌癥，每種癌癥都會對人產生不同的影響。“并沒有能夠應對一切情形的劇本，”她說。研究顯示，培訓管理人員來支持罹患癌癥的團隊成員也很重要，雖然很少有公司這樣做。

As Emma Holden, global head of HR at Schroders, the asset manager, observes, “cancer is a scary thing” and bosses may broach the subject clumsily, or not at all. They may also have no notion of the fatigue that many cancer survivors endure months after treatment has ended. “People often assume that recovery is going to be linear and it’s not. You can have periods when you feel fine, then periods when you’re really tired and just need to be away from the office,” she says.

正如資產管理公司施羅德人力資源部全球負責人艾瑪·霍頓所說，“癌癥很可怕”，而老板們可能會笨拙地談論這個話題，或者根本不提。他們也可能不知道許多癌癥幸存者在治療結束幾個月后所承受的疲勞。“人們常常以為康復過程是線性的，而實際上并不是。你可能有感覺不錯的時候，接著又覺得好累，要離開辦公室。”

Mr Butt, supported by his boss, began with a few hours working from home while his immunity system recovered, then mornings in the office that lengthened into days. He says: “I’m still on the road to recovery, and there will be many ups and downs. But, since new year, I’ve tried to be in the office daily and largely been successful.” He has hurdles to clear, but normality is in sight.

在老板的支持下，巴特最開始每天在家工作幾個小時，同時他的免疫系統(tǒng)也在恢復，然后改為上午在辦公室工作，再延長至全天。他說：“我還在康復過程中，狀況會有很多起伏。但是，從新年開始，我試著每天都到辦公室工作，并且大多數(shù)時候都成功了。”他還有些障礙要克服，但恢復正常狀態(tài)已經在望了。