Caregiving
The term “caregivers” used to represent those individuals who care for young children. Times have changed. Today, the term “caregivers” has evolved into a much broader definition and includes men and women taking care of an aging relative. Many of these men and women are providing some level of assistance for an aging relative while simultaneously caring for their young children. These caregivers are “sandwiched” between two generations within their families who require their time, energy and finances.
Employee caregivers balance the time, financial and emotional demands of caring for their children and relatives. These responsibilities can lead to stress, burnout and other health issues. Employees who provide eldercare are more likely to report poor or fair health, depression, and the presence of chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.¹ In fact, there is an 8% differential in increased health care costs between caregiving and non-caregiving employees, which is costing U.S. employers an extra estimated $13.4 billion per year.¹
Caregiving responsibilities also lead to increased absenteeism and presenteeism among working caregivers resulting from employees having to miss work to care for a relative or time lost at work making phone calls, talking to healthcare professionals and dealing with other caregiving responsibilities.
Tips for Employers
Communicate. Poll your employees to find out more about their needs. The combination of eldercare benefits and wellness programs can provide support to working caregivers as well as reduce employee health care costs which brings the employer bottom-line advantages.¹
Educate managers and employees. Offer “lunch and learns” or online webinars as a preventative intervention to provide education and recommendations regarding the steps needed to avoid crises in the future. Train your managers on techniques to identify employee caregivers and how to provide appropriate support services.
Provide care manager services. Offer Geriatric Care Manager services (phone and in person) through your EAP to individually assist employees.
References
¹Met Life Mature Market Institute (2010). The Met Life Study of Working Caregivers and Employer Health Care Costs: New Insights and Innovations for Reducing Health Care Costs for Employers
Resources
The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving provides caregiving agencies and organizations with the latest knowledge and practices relating to evidence-based caregiving.
I Care is a program offered through Erickson Resource Group (ERG) that provides brief information sheets and simple tools to help assess, locate, and organize caregiving responsibilities. ERG offers tailored programs for the workplace based on employee needs.