Work, Family and Caregiving in North Carolina: Perspectives from Employers and Employees

Many workers in North Carolina are dealing with the dual roles of caregiver and employee. In the first of these two AARP studies, employers in North Carolina were surveyed to assess what resources and information are available to employees caring for relatives. In the second, North Carolina employees were invited to provide their view of caregiving issues in the state. The results show that many employers are aware that their employees are facing this issue. Specifically, of those responding to the survey...

• 62 percent say that their employees have provided care or assistance to an older person
  
• 51 percent say that an employee has asked for time off for caregiving, while 32 percent say an employee has requested time off under the Family Medical Leave Act
  
• 62 percent say that caregiving has a major or minor effect on employee performance

Employees echo these comments with 68 percent reporting that they have been a caregiver, and 88 percent saying that it is emotionally stressful.

• The AARP North Carolina Caregiving in the Workplace Survey was conducted in March, 2003. Of the 2,242 companies whose human resources departments were contacted, 559 firms (25 percent) responded.
  
• The AARP North Carolina Caregiving Employee Internet Survey: Balancing Work and Family was an Internet survey of employees of companies that had previously expressed interest in this issue. For this reason, caution should be used in interpreting these data which are an indication of how a subset of employees at certain North Carolina companies feel regarding these issues.

Both reports were prepared by Erica L. Dinger of AARP Knowledge Management who may be contacted for further information at 202/434-6176.