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How Employers Can Support Working Caregivers

Addressing caregiver support issues in the workplace is not just a benevolent response; it's smart business. It is reported that companies reap a $3-$14 return on every $1 they spend on eldercare benefits.

Today's Baby Boomers may well be called "the Eldercare Generation." As more employees remain in the labor force and their parents live longer, businesses have begun stepping up to help overwhelmed workers better balance their professional and family responsibilities.

Companies are finding eldercare help to be timely "insurance." That is because both employers and employees benefit when workers have options that make caregiving more manageable. No wonder eldercare benefits and flexible work arrangements are fast becoming a potent recruiting and retention tool.

As of 2007, 33% of large companies offer basic eldercare benefits, as do 25% of all businesses. Most take the form of resource materials and referrals services, unpaid leaves of absence, dependent care flexible spending accounts, counseling, or back up elder care. More progressive companies also offer subsidized in-home emergency care or adult daycare, on-staff geriatric care specialists, inclusion of an older relative on a health insurance plan, or workplace support groups. Some companies have no formal eldercare benefits but allow flexible work arrangements such as flextime, job sharing, telecommuting, and a compressed work week that employees use to juggle elder caregiving.

An Urgent Issue

• While caregiving is traditionally associated with women, 45% percent of today's working caregivers are men.
• Nearly two-thirds or 63% of all caregivers ages 51-64 work, most full-time; 75% are primary caregivers.
• Up to 30% of employees have eldercare responsibilities, and 40% of those also have children at home.
• Eighty percent of older adult care is provided solely by family and friends.
• The average length of caregiving is eight years

Why the Demand?

It's simple math: The population is aging; more women are at work; Boomers are working past retirement, and others are reentering the labor force in their 50s, 60s and 70s. Meanwhile, medical know-how is extending lives; hospital stays are shorter; families are smaller; and society is more mobile. Add it all up and the result is fewer family members at home to help needy relatives.

Here's more evidence:

• Half of the U.S. labor force will be caregivers within the next five years.
• Between 2000 and 2010, the number of working women age 55+ will increase 52%, from 6.4 million to 10.1 million.

The Cost to Employers

Companies are also seeing the emotional and physical toll that caregiving takes on its workers. In one study, 75% of employees caring for adults reported negative health consequences, including depression, stress, panic attacks, headaches, loss of energy and sleep, weight loss, and physical pain. Businesses suffer, too, by having to pay high health insurance costs and in lost productivity. That doesn't count the promotions or assignments workers turn down that require travel or relocation away from aging relatives.

Businesses that don't offer benefits or address eldercare wind up paying for them. A recent study by the MetLife Market Mature Institute and the National Alliance for Caregiving states that U.S. companies pay between $17.1 billion and $33.6 billion annually, depending on the level of caregiving involved, on lost productivity. That equals $2,110 for every full-time worker who cares for an adult.

Here's another way to look at eldercare costs:

• $6.6 billion to replace employees (9% left work either to take early retirement or quit)
• Nearly $7 billion in workday interruptions (coming in late, leaving early, taking time off during the day or spending work time on eldercare matters)
• Long-distance caregivers miss close to 20 hours of work per month; 44% must rearrange their work schedules and 36% miss work completely.
• $4.3 billion in absenteeism

How Companies Are Responding

It's no coincidence that 42 out of the 50 companies on the 2006 list of AARP Best Employers for Workers Over 50 offer eldercare benefits. Supporting caregivers translates into less turnover and greater productivity and profits. The most innovative employers provide on-site eldercare (Oakwood Healthcare), long-term insurance for parents, in-laws, grandparents, and grandparents-in-law (Cornell University), an elder care office providing guidance, counseling, and referrals (University of Kentucky), and out of pocket eldercare expenses with tax free dollars (SSM Healthcare).

Here's what other businesses are doing:

• Freddie Mac has a free eldercare consultant and access to subsidized aides for a relative up to 20 days.
• Verizon Wireless offers seminars on eldercare issues and allows full-time workers 80 hours a year in back-up care, 40 hours for part-time, and $4/hour for in-home help.
• At the Atlanta law firm Alston & Bird LLP, workers can donate vacation time to colleagues who have used up theirs to care for family members.

Once again, because it's so important: Addressing caregiver support issues in the workplace is not just benevolent. It's smart business. Keep in mind that every $1 companies spend on eldercare benefits reaps a $3-$14 return.

What Can Employers Do?

Formal support is important, but even more critical is an office culture that is sympathetic to the issues elder caregiving employees face and encourages workers to use company services. This must be a top-down attitude, where supervisors and managers are trained to be sensitive to staff with eldercare issues. (A SHRM survey claims that just 11% of respondents train managers on this topic.) You can have policies on the books, but employees don't use them if they're afraid they will negatively impact their job.

Your level of response will vary depending on the size of your company and your budget. Providing basic eldercare benefits does not have to be complicated or expensive.

• Have your HR department compile a list of community sources to hand out to employees. Contact your local Area Agency on Aging for material and referrals (counseling services, support groups, booklets, specific programs, lists of eldercare experts). Check with nearby senior centers, hospitals and national sources. (See Resources sections.)
• Ask workers what kind of eldercare policies would be helpful - flextime , lunchtime workshops and speakers, cash subsidizes for services, paid sick leave or employee leave-sharing, support groups, or access to a geriatric case manager.
• Find out what has worked and hasn't worked for others in your field who have eldercare policies.
• Consider contracting with a third party to provide eldercare employee services. It could be online or telephone support, or for emergency back-up care.

AARP Resources

Focus on Health Care: Recruiting and Retaining Workers 50+ (PDF)
An overview of the staffing crisis in the health care field with a focus on how to attract, engage and retain the 50+ worker. The recommendations in this booklet easily apply to other industries as well.

"When Employees Become Caregivers: A Manager's Workbook"
Learn how to organize and distribute eldercare information to workers who are caregivers. Originally published by Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services.

Caring for Parents
Point your employees who care for family members to this wealth of resources and information.

Balancing Work and Caregiving
This article advises workers on how to manage career and caregiving responsibilities.

Prepare to Care: A Planning Guide for Families
The AARP Foundation offers this step-by-step guide on creating a caregiving plan for oneself or for an aging relative.

Additional Resources

MetLife Caregiving Cost Study: Productivity Losses to U.S. Businesses
Employee caregiving responsibilities can be costly to a business. Employers can address these issues by making eldercare resources available.

How to Confront the Eldercare Challenge
The growing need for caregiver resources is explored in this article. A companion piece offers 10 steps on creating a supportive workplace for caregivers.

Eldercare Calculator
Want to know how much eldercare costs your company in lost productivity?

National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC)
The NAC offers a database of publicly funded resources for every state, caregiver information and referrals, fact sheets, online support groups, and publications.