A previous employer. I had left so I heard about it later. A new boss had taken over, after the owner sold up. He was originally head of finance, so a beancounter through and through, or so I thought.

The warehouse manager (relatively young) was diagnosed with cancer. Obviously a big deal. He gave a heads up that he would need to take some time off for treatment etc, but would try and minimise it. He was (effectively) told ‘fuck that’. Instead he was only to come in when he wanted too. If he kept working, that’s fine, if they didn’t see him for 2 years, that’s also fine. No pay cut or worrying about his job.

He came in intermittently, as his health allowed. The warehouse mostly ran itself, since he’d done his job well. He had far less stress, and could focus on fighting, and his family. Unfortunately, cancer still won. The boss, (among other things) organised paying his widow over 6 months of his (the manager’s) salary. He couldn’t do much to help with the pain of loss, but he could make sure that financial stress wasn’t added to it.

It turns out bean counters can have a lot more heart than we give them credit for.