Employers, Support Working Caregivers to Help Your Business

According to AARP, currently 61% of family caregivers work full-time or part-time. What’s even more surprising is that 19% of retirees stopped working because of their caregiving responsibilities, and an incredibly 68% have had to make work-place accommodations as a result of their caregiving responsibilities.

These figures are incredible. Furthermore, businesses will be affected because this figure is growing every single day. This is going to negatively impact businesses if they’re not prepared, and, at the same time, this is an incredible opportunity for employers to prove to their employees that their dedicated to their well-being. Employers can support their caregiver employers in multiple ways. Here are some suggestions for employers, from most basic to most comprehensive:

1. Employers should talk to their employees and try to understand what they’re going through. They should encourage them to communicate what is going on in their life with upper management and their immediate supervisors.

2. As much as their position allows, employers should strive to be flexible in scheduling. It’s important to understand that, for caregivers, a 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. job won’t allow them to meet some of their caregiving responsibilities and will add stress.

 3. If employers know of multiple working caregivers within their organization, they can encourage any caregiver employees to talk to each other, as they both may have resources that will be beneficial to the other one.

 4. If their caregiving responsibilities become too intense, employers can encourage them to explore their options within the company, such as FMLA.

The best option for a company is to find an outside eldercare expert to provide support and guidance to their employees. Employers should consider adopting an elder care support program, such as WeCare+. This option allows the company to support the individuals while realizing they may not have all of the tools able to support the individuals.

All of these are a step in the right direction, and will allow caregiver employees to continue working and to continue to provide support for their ailing or aging loved one. You can learn more about our program here.