Although the work culture appears relaxed at first, many colleagues are stressed; some are deeply unhappy. There seems to be an underlying sense of uneasiness.  Apart from job dissatisfaction, there could be other reasons. Two that seem well-established are bullying and harassment.  Many are continually subjected to both.

A report commissioned by Macmillan to look at bullying also highlighted a high degree of racism and discrimination against disabled employees. This report was prepared by the Social Justice Collective. Before its contents could be sanitised and covered up, they were leaked to the media. Read more >>

It's easy to see why such a culture exists. Many managers I met seemed inexperienced and insecure. All shared a common characteristic; they liked the sound of their own voices. They often dominated meetings, but had little of value or substance to say.

'Our voice' - it's a hollow one

Macmillan have people called 'our voice' representatives to mediate in employer/employee disputes. Apparently, they are specially trained to listen to all sides in a dispute and suggest ways forward. Before contacting an our voice representative, I sounded out colleagues, some with experience of using 'our voice' mediation. Their advice was straightforward: "Don't!"  I was told that 'our voice' representatives were nothing more than the charity's stooges, in place to discourage, thwart, bully and prevent people making complaints against managers. Macmillan has no recognised union representation.

What diversity?

Institutional racism is glaringly obvious. In the world's most culturally diverse city, London, where Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people make up 46% of its population, the largest group of employees at Macmillan is white females. Every recruit to the wider team during my 14 months there had been from that demographic. For example, on the floor where I worked, out of around 200 occupants, about 10 were from BAME backgrounds.

In a Linkedin post, Kiran Bance, Macmillan's head of diversity and inclusion from 2020-2024, says:
"Our focus has been on creating an environment where we're really listening to colleagues and those we support - through our amazing colleague Perspectives Panel discussions, introducing a Wellbeing Passport for everyone working at Macmillan and all the customer insight work and research we’re doing to better understand who we are reaching and how we can do better. The amazing people who work for Macmillan are so driven to make change happen, I feel very proud to be part of it 💚"

Fine words, but it's not happening. Reviews on Glassdoor state that the Wellbeing Passport is just PR and unfit for purpose. The "amazing people who work for Macmillan are so driven to make change happen..." will be thwarted by incompetent, bullying and racist senior managers, as they have been for many years. Read more about Macmillan Cancer Support's hypocrisy and furthering its gravy train

• #CharitySoWhite

"...VERY White, even for this sector..."

Given this situation, I emailed Francesca Okosi, Macmillan Cancer's Chief People and Culture Officer and asked what was being done to improve their work culture. I said I'd be happy to publish her views for balance. That was on 24 October 2025. So far, I've heard nothing.