The Cancer Employee - Personality and Characteristics

Cancer is the fourth sign of the Zodiac calendar and includes those born from 22^nd June to 22^nd July. With the moon as their ruling planet, Cancer men and women make astute, loyal but also rather emotional employees.

Need for security

When hiring a Cancerian, it is useful to keep in mind from the very beginning that the only reason he/she has agreed to work for you is the paycheck. Unlike an Aries who is driven by the ego or the Capricorn who exults in professional prestige, a Cancerian will quietly examine if what you have agreed to pay them is in accordance with their rightful dues. And if it does, you will not get a more devoted, serious-minded and tireless worker. However if your Cancer employee feels that he/she is not getting their just desserts, then he/she will be led on to do something quite uncharacteristic like leave for another better-paying job. Uncharacteristic, because a Cancer thrives when surrounded by a feeling of familiarity and security – evident in the way the Crab prefers carrying its house around with it wherever it goes rather than adapting itself to changing surroundings.

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Highly emotional

In their love of security, a Cancer appears to resemble a Taurus but where the Crab differs from the Bull is in its emotional temperament unlike the latter’s bent for the practical and realistic. You will find your Cancer employee at their most productive when sharing a close supportive relationship with co-workers. Not only that, Cancerians are in fact acutely perceptive of their co-workers’ thoughts and feelings which is why they are always there to lend a shoulder to someone who is feeling low and appreciate another who has just had a new hairdo. A happy Cancerian can warm up a workplace with feelings of light, love and positivity and make it a center of productivity.

On the flipside however, a Cancerian’s emotional temperament makes him/her extremely vulnerable to heartaches. A sharp word from you or even some constructive criticism in the evaluation report can take a Cancer employee to the depths of gloom. You may find your Cancer employee quick to take offence when confronted with an alternate opinion or opposition. Any hint of criticism and you are likely to find your employee withdraw into a shell, begin to sulk or even dissolve into a flood of tears, if she happens to be a woman. And when Cancerians do get into one of their legendary ‘moods’, it is entirely up to them how long they will last. Just like a crab in its shell, no amount of prodding and provoking will make them emerge from a self-imposed retreat. They will come back to the surface only when they are ready and not before that.

Apart from all this, the fear of being emotionally hurt by more aggressive colleagues or superiors can make a Cancerian rather timid. Thus an employee might have great potential but unwillingly to express it in order to cross swords with unpleasant people at the workplace.

Acutely sentimental

Yet another aspect of the emotional Cancerian nature is their attachment to familiar and beloved things. You can find your Cancer employee’s office cubicle or desk crammed with old get-well cards, shoe-strings, socks, empty ball-point pens and well-worn folders. It is never easy for a Cancerian to let go of anything, whether it is something as small as a dog-eared photograph of him/her with other co-workers or something as significant as a relationship. while this might seem as a quirky trait in a Cancerian, its larger impact is evident in the tenacity with which you will be surprised to find your Cancer employee holding on to a viewpoint or idea till you have backed down from your contrary position or at least agreed to try out what he/she may have to say. This tendency makes Cancer men and women masters at the art of passive resistance much like the Crab which can hide inside its shell or hold onto something with its claws for hours till the exhausted enemy simply gives up.

Interestingly the apparent emotionality and sentimentality of a Cancer co-exists with a clear-headed understanding of what is needed to get ahead in the workplace. Being a cardinal sign, Cancer employees are great at taking responsibilities. Unlike a Leo or Aries, they might not make a fuss about taking orders from a boss but behind their apparent docility is a calm recognition of the fact that by fulfilling responsibilities, they are actually erecting the edifice of their own professional success. The Cancer’s sensitivity is very unlike that of a Pisces which is chiefly fuelled by a creative imagination and thus uncomfortable with a hierarchical authoritarian ladder.

Love of home and family

You will probably get to hear a great deal of the wife and kids from your Cancer employee. This is because home and family rank among their highest priorities, evident from the symbol of the Crab which is perfectly content to drag its shelter wherever it goes. While your Cancer employee will have the knack of bringing the same feelings of belonging, cozy camaraderie and family allegiance to the workplace, you can also count on him/her to take days off with alarming frequency, whether to attend a daughter’s piano recital or be with the spouse for their dental checkup. However the same sense of responsibility which prompts a Cancer to be always there for his/her family will also ensure that your work is done and the assignment ready on your table before the deadline expires.

The downside of a Cancer’s emotional and family-oriented nature is that they seem to take it quite bad when close personal relationships flounder. If your Cancer employee is going through a breakup or divorce, get ready for a rather lengthy disruption in your staff attendance. He/she will not only take weeks to recover but may even carry over the pall of gloom and despondency at the workplace. And though strictly speaking, you are not responsible for what goes on their personal lives, at such times if you can offer support in terms of a kind word and a slight raise for your Cancerian employee, you will have made a loyal supporter of him/her for a lifetime.