How Cancer Support UK uses Gomo to encourage crucial conversations in British workplaces

Navigating cancer alongside work is difficult, and returning to work after treatment can be just as hard: many people re-entering the workplace after a cancer diagnosis experience isolation and a lack of emotional support.

“Being in the workplace during cancer treatment, or re-entering the workplace following it, can be one of the most isolating and traumatic times,” explains Olivia Gray, Head of Corporate Training at Cancer Support UK. "Research shows that up to 50% of the working population who have had a cancer diagnosis do not tell their workplace – this may be for fear of losing their job or losing responsibilities. They then end up taking annual leave and unpaid leave when undergoing treatment,” Olivia explains.

Cancer Support UK saw an opportunity to address this issue. There was a clear need to equip workplaces with the understanding and tools they need to better support colleagues affected by cancer. At the start of 2020, the organisation committed to developing training that would build greater awareness and empathy in professional environments.

However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly halted face-to-face training, meaning Cancer Support UK had to pivot quickly.

Enter Gomo. With in-person sessions off the table, Olivia set out to launch a digital training programme to bring cancer awareness to workplaces across the UK.

“I researched various platforms and authoring tools and landed on Gomo. It came down to cost and the kinds of engaging learning experiences we thought we could deliver through using the platform,” Olivia says.

Affordability is an important factor for Cancer Support UK as the organisation largely relies on donations. However, Gomo also offers a range of powerful features at a competitive price point.

Since Gomo is cloud-based, it’s ideal for facilitating collaboration by ensuring all learning designers and reviewers can easily access the same user-friendly platform. Olivia worked with a consultant to develop ‘Communicating about Cancer,’ an approximately 30-minute online course designed to equip organisations with the skills to support colleagues facing a cancer diagnosis. Specialised input from subject matter expert, the late Anna Nugent, Head of Service Delivery at Cancer Support UK, was crucial to ensure the accuracy and relevance of the content.

The end-result is an engaging course ideal for educating people about the implications of cancer in the workplace, empowering them to offer support through skillful communication. The course covers:

• Types of cancers people should be aware of
• Common treatments and what they entail
• The physical and emotional side effects of diagnosis or treatment
• Communication basics, including suggestions on what might be helpful to say versus what people might find less supportive
• Exercises to put communication skills into practice
• Useful resources learners can follow up on, should they wish to

Cancer Support UK was also able to adapt ‘Communicating about Cancer’ into a specialised course for employees who work with vulnerable individuals. Vulnerable Customer E-learning is an approximately 50-minute course designed for customer-facing teams and call centre staff who interact with clients affected by cancer. It aims to enhance their understanding of the client experience, improve their communication skills, and enable them to provide more effective support.

Both of these courses are interactive and media-rich. Learners can complete multiple-choice quizzes, as well as drag-and-drop activities. This interactivity keeps learners engaged and may also gently challenge preconceived notions. Olivia shares that learners are often surprised by the results of a quiz asking them to put the most commonly used cancer treatments in order, for example. A wide variety of images and audio is also included. The ‘Vulnerable Customer’ course even makes use of audio recordings of scenarios to help learners clearly imagine the challenges their customers deal with.

Communicating about Cancer and Vulnerable Customer E-learning are now available for purchase as SCORM packages, allowing organisations to host them on their own learning management systems. With Gomo, these files are easily exported in just a few clicks and are widely compatible with a range of LMSs.

Customers purchasing the training report a clear improvement in cancer communication across their organisations. “People are saying that they’re coming back into the workplace feeling more supported. They know their colleagues have a better understanding and better ways to communicate with them,” Olivia explains. “There are even cases of people who have been through treatment and who hadn't told their workplaces, but have now come forward because the programme is in place.”

While Cancer Support UK has since reincorporated face-to-face training as part of its educational work, Olivia shares that e-learning continues to be a key part of its offering. “It's quite impactful to be in the same room as a group of people when teaching around a topic like cancer. But given logistics and geography, we still deliver a lot of virtual training,” she explains.

“The e-learning is the most effective way to access the training and to get this resource to 100% of our customers’ learners,” Olivia says. The convenience of digital learning is key. “Anybody who has access to their organisation’s learning management system can just dip in and out,” she explains.

The course's mobile compatibility also ensures flexible learning. Since courses built in Gomo are fully responsive, learners can take the training at their convenience, which improves uptake.

In fact, Cancer Support UK has been able to share this course with a large number of learners, establishing remarkable reach. “Our e-learning training is now available to around 50,000 people in the UK, including large organisations like Edinburgh Council and Barts Health NHS Trust.”

Not only is the widespread use of the courses educating workplaces, it’s also serving as an additional source of revenue to support the important work Cancer Support UK does to support those impacted by cancer. “It's been an excellent way to bring in new revenue for Cancer Support UK,” Olivia says.

Cancer Support UK is also pleased with the high level of accessibility the course offers. Gomo is the ideal authoring tool for organisations looking to champion accessibility. Thanks to display conditions, visual themes, and device-agnostic screen rotation, Gomo helps instructional designers meet WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). This means Olivia and her collaborators can offer training to all learners and continue to refine the accessibility of their training over time, should they need to.

With a cost-effective solution that allows quick and easy SCORM exports, Cancer Support UK will be empowered to deliver its impactful and important training for a long time to come, making a difference where it matters most. Olivia sums it perfectly: "When a workplace announces that they’re aware cancer is an issue, and show that they want to emotionally support people – which is effectively what the training delivers – that gives people the confidence to come forward and share their story."