Businesses can alleviate the pressure encountered by staff members responsible for looking after aging parents or ailing relatives.
Being a caregiver along with keeping a job can lead to exhaustion.
More than half (61%) of the estimated 48 million individuals in the U.S. who are caring for adult relatives or acquaintances also work, mostly full-time, as reported in a 2020 study by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving.
Inevitably, a majority of these working caregivers admit to facing challenges in managing their duties, as confirmed by a 2023 survey conducted by AARP and S&P Global among self-declared caregivers employed either full- or part-time at large corporations.
Various methods show the strain, with approximately 50% tardiness, early departures, or time-offs; 32% taking a leave of absence; 37% reducing work hours or switching to part-time; 16% passing up promotions; and nearly 16% temporarily halting work.
Employer Responses
Given the demographic changes in the U.S., combined with people choosing to work longer, caregiving is expected to become increasingly common in the workplace, commented Melinda Izbicki, a senior principal at HR consultancy firm Mercer.
As employers have expanded their benefits to aid employee family life and child-rearing, they are now deliberating on ways to further extend support, including elder care benefits.
Providing employees with the flexibility to work from anywhere or anytime to accommodate their caregiving responsibilities is a crucial support. Besides, some companies are offering additional assistance, such as:
- 34% offering elder care referrals or consultations in the upcoming year
- 20% granting access to backup elder care services
- 17% providing concierge caregiver support
- 16% delivering care coordination assistance
- 14% offering elder care leaves
- 10% offering digital tools to aid caregivers
These benefits are offered even more frequently by larger companies with over 5,000 employees.
Return on Investment for Companies
Caregiving often occurs in sporadic phases of an employee’s life, explained Joseph Fuller, a professor at Harvard Business School. For instance, a healthy, independent parent might live for years before they develop dementia, cancer, or fall and break a hip.
Fuller developed a return-on-investment (ROI) model to assess the value of caregiving benefits provision. Using data from surveys at more than 90 firms offering their employees access to Wellthy, a caregiving benefits company offering care navigation among other services, his analysis found that approximately 30% of respondents claimed that these benefits prevented them from taking leave or quitting.
Given the high cost of employee replacements, minimizing turnover might exceed the cost of providing caregiving benefits.
“When the typical cost to replace these workers was 50% (of a person’s salary), ROI was roughly estimated between 225% and 340%, with higher returns as replacement costs rise,” Fuller noted in his study, which also found that over half of respondents reported that caregiving benefits reduced their daily absenteeism, thereby increasing their work hours.
Assisting Caregivers' Finances
Managing as a caregiver entails many tasks: finding doctors, health aides, and assisted living facilities; transporting loved ones to medical appointments; picking up prescriptions; and keeping track of medicine schedules.
It benefits caregivers to first investigate the workplace benefits at their disposal to aid in this process. If there aren’t specific benefits like the ones mentioned above, Danielle Miura, a certified financial planner specializing in caregiver finances, recommends discussing the situation with your employer to explore potential accommodations (e.g., arranging flexible work hours, telecommuting, or taking time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act).
Beyond your employer, exploring ways to alleviate the physical, mental, and financial expenses of caregiving may be possible.
According to a 2021 AARP study, most caregivers incur annual out-of-pocket expenses exceeding $7,000.
Potentially, some of these costs can be recovered through tax deductions if the person being cared for qualifies as a dependent, suggested Miura, who published a tax help sheet and a resource page for caregivers.
Additionally, seek out “respite grants” provided by local agencies to take a break.
Miura advocates for communicating with other family members to support your caregiving efforts, including contributing regularly to a “solutions fund” – a designated account to cover expenses that help alleviate your burden (e.g., hiring a cleaning service, days in adult daycare, or personal care like haircuts, massages, or therapy).
“Caregivers need caregivers too,” Miura concluded.
In light of the increasing prevalence of caregiving in the workplace, companies are considering expanding their benefits to include elder care assistance. This could involve offering elder care referrals or consultations, providing backup elder care services, delivering care coordination assistance, and offering elder care leaves among other benefits.
Employees who receive caregiving benefits can potentially save their companies from high replacement costs. A study by Joseph Fuller at Harvard Business School found that approximately 30% of respondents claimed that these benefits prevented them from taking leave or quitting, and the return on investment (ROI) was estimated to be between 225% and 340%.
