In time for World Cancer Day on 4 February, La Fondation Publicis has launched the latest initiative from the Working with Cancer Pledge: ‘Screening Time Off,’ an awareness campaign rallying companies to encourage their employees to get cancer screenings, with program support from Accor, AXA, HPE, L’Oreal, MSD, Nestle, Pfizer, Sanofi and UBS.
Publicis’ Working With Cancer Pledge initiative was launched two years ago at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The latest Screening Time Off campaign calls on employers to increase screening compliance across their organisations to make a greater impact.
Actor and breast cancer advocate Jenna Fischer stars in the campaign. Fischer has been vocal about her own early detection and treatment of stage triple-positive breast cancer.
Screening Time Off provides tools and resources for companies to address common barriers that their employees experience in identifying existing policies and benefits. These span multi-media communication assets, activation guides, FAQs, outreach templates and customisable films.
After receiving messages about the benefits of early detection, over 70 per cent of people say they are more likely to schedule their next screening, according to Publicis.
Nearly half of all cancer deaths are preventable. Caught early, many common cancers have survival rates well over 90 per cent. But too many people delay or skip cancer screenings due to work. In the US, 7 in 10 people say they are behind on one or more screenings, and 25 per cent of the working population don’t use the paid time or workplace benefits made available by their companies for those checkups. Publicis has calculated that up to 100,000 American lives could be saved annually through raised awareness and lifted screening compliance as a result of the program.
“In just two years, Working with Cancer’s mission to break down the stigma of cancer in the workplace has touched the lives of over 35 million employees, across 2500 leading companies worldwide. Now, we’re taking that commitment even further with Screening Time Off—a bold new initiative to remove the barriers to life-saving preventative care. By encouraging employees to take time for cancer screenings, we’re saving lives by ensuring that early detection doesn’t take a back seat to work. It’s a crucial step in our commitment to building healthier, recovery-forward workforces globally,” Arthur Sadoun, CEO of Publicis Groupe said.
