For Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun, Working With Cancer isn’t a side project. The initiative, launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos three years ago to eradicate the stigma of cancer in the workplace, is inseparable from his role as CEO.
“I want to erase the stigma of cancer in the workplace,” he said.
On Wednesday (Feb. 4), World Cancer Day, Publicis Groupe announced it has expanded the initiative with new peer-reviewed research and an AI-powered coach designed to help employees, managers, and companies navigate cancer at work: safely, privately, and without replacing human judgment.
The research, led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Mayo Clinic, examines the relationship between employment and long-term quality of life for people diagnosed with cancer.
Conducted by oncologist Dr. Victoria Blinder at Memorial Sloan Kettering and Dr. Gina Mazza, a biostatistician at the Mayo Clinic, the review analyzed 25 years of data across 20 countries. It found that, under the right conditions, sustained employment or a supported return to work is associated with better physical functioning, lower rates of anxiety and depression, and improved overall quality of life for cancer patients.
The research does not argue that everyone should work during treatment. Instead, it reinforces choice as well as the importance of supportive conditions.
“What this study does is give scientific credibility to what was previously intuition,” said Nannette Lafond-Dufour. “It’s not work or no work. It’s how people can continue to contribute in ways that support their health, dignity, and identity.”
AI coach
Grounded in that research, Publicis is introducing an AI-powered coach available to all companies that sign the Working With Cancer pledge. The tool is designed to translate company policies into personalized guidance for employees with cancer, their managers, and colleagues.
In a demo video accompanying the launch, a worker asks the AI what accommodations they might request from their manager. Instead of delivering generic advice, the system asks clarifying questions about the person’s role and environment before offering tailored suggestions—illustrating the program’s emphasis on nuance over one-size-fits-all solutions.
The launch is paired with a global campaign film featuring working professionals who describe how continuing to work under flexible, supportive conditions helped them cope with diagnosis and treatment. The film also highlights research showing that roughly three-quarters of U.S. workers with cancer say returning to work helped them regain a sense of normalcy and empowerment.
Directed by Kailee McGee, a stage IV cancer survivor and award-winning filmmaker, the campaign features survivors from across industries—from CEOs to frontline employees—sharing how work provided structure, identity, and control during treatment. Participants work at companies such as Walmart, L’Oréal, Pfizer, Barclays, Accenture, and Carrefour.
“Being able to continue to go back to work as much as possible was a big part of my healing,” Accenture CEO Julie Sweet says in the film. Sadoun also recounts his own experience navigating treatment while continuing to lead Publicis Groupe.
Given concerns about AI in sensitive health contexts, Lafond-Dufour said guardrails were non-negotiable. The system does not require logins, does not store personal data, and clears all information at the end of each session. It does not provide medical or legal advice and is built on curated, expert-vetted sources rather than scraping the internet.
“It’s ethical by design,” she said. “It’s private, anonymous, and designed to help people ask the hard questions they might not feel safe asking elsewhere.”
Sadoun said the tool was impossible to build just a few years ago. “We tried,” he said. “The technology wasn’t ready. Now, thanks to how fast AI has evolved, we were able to do it in months.”
A call to action
For Sadoun, success will be measured by whether companies better help people fight cancer. So far, more than 5,000 companies and over 40 million workers globally have pledged to the Working with Cancer Initiative.
‘“Cancer is a fight,” he said. “And companies have a role to play.”
Sadoun said fear is the biggest barrier employees face when it comes to addressing their health in the workplace, with roughly half of people diagnosed with cancer choosing not to disclose it at work. “After you’re scared for your life,” he said, “you become scared for your job.”
That realization, reinforced by thousands of emails Sadoun received after publicly disclosing his own diagnosis in April 2022, helped shape the initiative’s direction.
“People don’t want to be seen as weak. They don’t want to be a burden,” he said. “But surviving cancer often makes people stronger.”
His message to CEOs is direct: sign the pledge.
“Most companies already have the right policies,” Sadoun said. “What’s missing is awareness and trust. We’re here to erase the stigma—nothing more, nothing less.”
