A sustainable career path for cancer survivors returning to work: New theorising from an inductive qualitative case study

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to understand the workplace challenges cancer survivors face when they return to work, and to analyse what human resources management (HRM) professionals and line managers can do to protect and motivate these survivors. This article opens with a review of the literature on cancer survivors and work, from an HRM perspective. Design/method/approach: A qualitative case study approach is adopted to understand the experiences of and challenges faced by cancer survivors returning to work and human resource (HR) managers’ actions to address these challenges. Findings: This study enhances HRM theory on cancer survivors returning to work by proposing a menu of suitable HRM practices. The article also highlights how acknowledging cancer survivors’ talents and introducing an integration and learning perspective in organisations on how to manage this vulnerable group may reinforce an employment relationship of mutual investment aimed at sustainability. In addition, this study offers a sustainable career model for cancer survivors. Originality: The outcomes of this research are translated into a set of sustainable HRM practices for cancer survivors (HR planning, job design, career development, compensation, performance evaluation, and training), and guidance in the form of proposals for management and government agencies to regulate the experience of returning to work