How to Support Family Caregivers at Work

November is National Family Caregivers Month. This year’s theme, “Plug-in to Care,” focuses on “helping caregivers connect to vital support tools, networks, and education.” These connections can decrease the stress and isolation that many family caregivers face. Here are some actions you can take to support your colleagues who are caring for others.

There are more than 50 million family caregivers in the United States — one in five working people. They assist a variety of relatives, especially those with disabilities and elderly people. Some are in the “sandwich generation” in their families, helping both children and seniors. Family caregivers help their relatives with tasks including activities of daily living, accessing medical care, grocery shopping, handling money and maintaining the home.

Family caregivers face enormous challenges, including:

• Physical problems — When family caregivers are stretched thin by the demands of caring for their loved ones, working and other responsibilities, they have less time and energy to care for themselves. They may not get enough sleep. They may not have the time for seek peer support that could benefit them, such as caregiver groups. They may not eat well and suffer poor nutrition.
• Financial issues — An average family caregiver spends $7,200 out of pocket each year in caring for their relative. That doesn’t include income lost from working fewer hours or quitting work entirely to focus on care needs.
• Emotional challenges — Family caregivers may be angry, irritated, and/or sad as well as lonely and isolated. They may burn out, become depressed, experience anxiety and/or stress and lose hope.

Adequately supporting family caregivers allows them to work while meeting their care responsibilities. Each week, family caregivers spend an average of 21 hours providing unpaid care. Most employed caregivers (56%) are concerned that their family caregiving will have negative consequences on their work. The majority (54.5 %) would leave their current positions for one with a caregiving-related benefit. And 33% have left a job because of the stress of juggling work and care.

It is in your interest to help them. Each year, undersupported home caregivers cost employers $34B in decreased productivity, turnover and healthcare claims. Making a workplace friendly to family caregivers raises worker engagement and retention, decreases turnover and healthcare claims and costs, and attracts top employees.

There are many ways to help family caregivers who work for you.

Educate your workplace about family caregiving. Awareness may increase empathy for your colleagues who care for their loved ones.

Create a supportive culture by:

• Recognizing and honoring family caregivers. Showing that you understand this situation may allow more employees to disclose their role, leading to better communication. Currently, just half of these workers tell their employers, because they are afraid of being seen as less useful.
• Training managers to support family caregivers. For example, managers should understand that workers may need to make personal phone calls in a private space during the workday. Managers should continue to assign regular duties and opportunities, rather than withholding them because the employee is a caregiver.
• Creating and implementing employee interest groups (EIGs) for family caregivers. EIGs focus on a specific topic and foster inclusive workplaces. A family caregivers EIG could help workers feel less alone and members could share best practices.

Be flexible about:

• Work schedule — Realize that your employees may have caregiving responsibilities during the traditional workday. Allow them to adjust their shifts and to work during nontraditional working times, such as weekends and/or evenings.
• Work environment — Allow them to work remotely and give them technology so they can do so. To reduce the risk of stigma or resentment, give this option to every employee. Federal government employees may not always have this flexibility, but workers at other levels of government could.
• Paid time off — Allow people to take partial as well as full days off.

Provide other caregiving benefits, such as:

• Information about available resources, discounts on products that can help with caring for loved ones, and subsidized access to experts on family caregiving.
• Flexible leave policies. Allow employees to accrue paid leave as their seniority increases. Permit them to temporarily go to part-time hours while retaining benefits. This flexibility allows your employees to fully resume their careers after their caregiving responsibilities end, and spares you costly turnover and the loss of experience.

Decrease medical costs by:

• Providing on-site yoga, meditation or massage.
• Allowing telehealth medical appointments.

Be supportive!

Talk to your employees about their lives. If you have your own experience as a caregiver, tell them about it. Express your empathy.

Assisting your employees who care for their loved ones helps all parties. Your workers who are family caregivers will appreciate your support.

Miriam Edelman, MPA, MSSW, is a Washington, D.C.-based policy professional. Her experience includes policy work for Congress. Miriam’s undergraduate degree is from Barnard College, Columbia University, with majors in political science and urban studies. She has a master’s in public administration from Cornell University, where she was inducted into the national honorary society for public administration. She has a master’s of science in social work (focusing on policy) from Columbia University. She is a commissioner of the DC Commission on Persons with Disabilities. Miriam aims to continue her career in public service. She is especially interested in democracy, civic education, District of Columbia autonomy, diversity, health policy, women’s issues, and disabilities.

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