Transformation and Public Service Minister Stanislas Guerini launched a plan on Thursday to better support civil servants suffering from chronic illnesses and end a “taboo” in the workplace.
“Cancer and chronic diseases in a broader sense are a taboo topic today,” said Stanislas Guerini, noting that only half of workers with cancer dare to talk to their employer about it.
“As so often, we think that the public service is protected from this, but (…) it is, like all businessmen, exposed in the same way,” he added on the occasion of a visit to the Cochin Hospital in Paris.
“It is a cultural fight that we must lead” so that patients can “talk about it,” he added, citing the example of “public officials who sometimes do their chemotherapy during lunch. (…) so as not to tell their employer to the regard”.
Inform and support sick workers
The support plan, which includes the 5.7 million civil servants (State, territorial hospital), is divided into three axes.
The first refers to support for agents so that they can “better benefit from existing systems”, many of which are still unknown, such as flexible hours or help with professional retraining. To this end, a space dedicated to public service has been set up on the website of the League Against Cancer. A guide is also provided during the summer.
The second component is aimed at carers, in order to make their public service carer license more accessible and to raise awareness of the free days off, which will be extended to volunteer firefighters.
better prevention
Finally, the third axis focuses on strengthening the prevention of chronic diseases.
In addition, Stanislas Guerini said he hopes that months-long negotiations with unions on employer financing of agent supply costs can progress by mid-July.
On the occasion of the launch of this support plan, he signed the letter “Working with cancer” aimed at eliminating the stigmatization of cancer in the workplace, together with its initiator Arthur Sadoun, president of the board of directors of Publicis, who suffered from this disease. .
Source: BFM TV
