Publicis Groupe has expanded the mission of its Working with Cancer initiative mission to help build open, supportive and recovery-forward work cultures for employees with cancer.
Since launching at the World Economic Forum in Davos three years ago, Working With Cancer has grown into a global movement of more than 5,000 companies, protecting over 40 million workers worldwide.
A newly conducted review led by Dr. Victoria Blinder, oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Dr. Gina Mazza, Associate Professor of Biostatistics at Mayo Clinic, highlighted evidence of a link between sustained employment, or return to work, after a cancer diagnosis and improved health-related quality of life.
Dr Blinder added that workplace conditions can play a role in shaping these outcomes, reinforcing the importance of flexibility, understanding, and appropriate accommodations during treatment and recovery.
The studies reviewed include findings that employed survivors report 28 per cent better overall quality of life (QOL) than non-employed at five years; physical functioning remained ~29 per cent higher in employed survivors at five years; employed participants in one study were approximately 3.7x less likely to report moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms, and 2.4x less likely to report moderate-to-severe anxiety symptoms, than unemployed participants.
Grounded in these findings, Working With Cancer has developed a new AI-powered coach, designed to help employers translate these insights into personalised, practical support for employees living with cancer.
Available to all companies that sign the Working With Cancer pledge, the coach enables organizations to communicate and adapt their health, benefits, and workplace policies to the individual needs of each employee. Built on Large Language Models and designed to address pain points experienced by patients, managers, HR and benefits leads, it includes purpose-built safeguards, allowing companies to securely upload their own policies so employees receive guidance tailored to their actual situation.
The AI system draws from curated, vetted resources from Working With Cancer’s expert partners, delivering accurate, transparent responses while avoiding the risks associated with open-internet health queries. A task-specific, multi-agent architecture supports cancer patients, managers, and colleagues with context-aware guidance, with strict boundaries that prevent medical diagnosis. Privacy and anonymity are foundational, with no data retained beyond each session.
With this growing evidence linking work, under the right conditions, to positive health outcomes for cancer patients, Working With Cancer is launching a global campaign to encourage more companies to sign the pledge and help extend these benefits to more employees.
Through a film (click HERE to view) created by Publicis Conseil and supported by up to $100 million in pro bono media donated by partners including Disney, Google/ Youtube, Zeta Global, TikTok, NBCUniversal, Paramount, iHeartMedia, Westwood One, Clear Channel Outdoor, Captivate, Screenvision, and NCM, the campaign makes clear that employers are not peripheral to the cancer experience. They can be a meaningful part of recovery, dignity, and quality of life.
Directed by Kailee McGee, a stage IV cancer survivor and award-winning filmmaker, the campaign features survivors from all walks of life—including CEOs, celebrities, and employees—sharing how working helped them maintain normalcy and control during treatment.
Participants include survivors from Walmart, L’Oréal, Pfizer, Barclays, Accenture, and Carrefour, among others.
With photographs by Sandro Miller a renowned portrait photographer and a stage 4 cancer survivor, the campaign will appear in a Times Square out-of-home takeover on February 4, in recognition of World Cancer Day.
