Spotlight on Caregivers in the Workplace
Al Waller: November is National Family Caregivers Month, a time to honor the estimated 53 million unpaid family caregivers in the U.S.1 who perform an invaluable labor of love that often comes without a paycheck.
National Family Caregivers Month is about celebrating caregivers, raising awareness of their issues, educating communities, and increasing support for caregivers. In that spirit, we are dedicating this episode of ClearPath – Your Roadmap to Health & WealthSM to caregivers in the workplace.
I’m your host, Al Waller. With me is Catherine Collinson, founding CEO and president of nonprofit Transamerica Institute® and its Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies to discuss caregivers in the workplace who are balancing their employment with their caregiving responsibilities.
Before we get started – a reminder that we would love to hear from you and learn what topics you would like us to cover or give us feedback on today’s show. Please drop me or Catherine a note at [email protected].
Catherine, as always, I’m very interested in your team’s research and insights, and practical tips for family caregivers – and what more can be done to help support them.
Catherine Collinson: Let’s start by honoring Former First Lady, Rosalynn Carter, who is renowned for her outstanding advocacy and support of caregivers. She famously said, and I quote….
"There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers."
Especially now, as the Baby Boomer generation is growing older, and the cost of long-term care is skyrocketing, millions of adult children will be called upon to provide care for an aging parent or loved one.
Al Waller: Your team has conducted a lot of research on people in the workforce, including those who are juggling caregiving with their work-related responsibilities. What are your latest findings?
Catherine Collinson: First of all, caregiving is a responsibility that is widely shared across socio-economic and demographic segments of our society. It’s something we all share in common. Caregiving is an “everyone” responsibility.
So, we need to do some myth busting. There’s a long-standing societal perception – or misperception – that caregivers are typically middle-aged women. This is simply not the case. According to our research, caregiving responsibilities are prevalent among workers across generations and between women and men.
Our most recent survey found that 36% of workers are either currently serving or have served as a caregiver for a relative or friend in the past – that’s more than one-third!! In this survey, women were more likely than men to indicate they were caregivers, but there was still a high percentage of men. Specifically, 41% of women were caregivers compared with 33% of men.
Looking across generations, Millennials (40%) were most likely to self-identify as caregivers followed by Generation X (36%), Generation Z (35%), and Baby Boomers (30%).
Al Waller: Wow, that’s really surprising. I was expecting that Baby Boomers would be the most likely to be caregivers. What more can you tell me about this?
Catherine Collinson: The oldest Millennials are now in their 40s and well into their sandwich years, which involve their careers, raising families, and caregiving. Regarding Baby Boomers, given their age, many may have already retired, including some who did so as a result of caregiving duties.
Looking across generations, we also see interesting differences when we asked who they were caring for. Generation Z, the youngest generation in the workforce, was more likely to be caring for a grandparent, whereas the older generations were more likely to be caring for a parent.
Al Waller: Speaking from personal experience, my siblings and I had to step into caregiving roles when both of my parents became ill/injured about eight years ago. On the heels of our dad's diagnosis with pancreatic cancer, my mother fell and broke her hip. So, the old expression “when it rains, it pores”, was definitely apropos. We were fortunate to have financial resources, medical coverage, and each other to weather these challenges.
In my own experience as an HR executive and consultant, I’ve encountered how disruptive caregiving responsibilities can be to both workers and employers. It can be extremely difficult for workers to balance their job responsibilities with caregiving. And employers are often concerned about productivity, morale, and retaining their employees. Tell us more about your research findings.
Catherine Collinson: Indeed, it can be challenging for caregivers. Al, you have certainly spelled out the situation, and I want to take a moment to thank you for sharing your own story. It must have been a tremendously difficult time for you and your siblings and especially your parents, with their health issues, but how inspiring how your family came together.
While your story is unique to your situation, these types of stories are all too common and becoming even more common, especially with the aging of the population. We've discussed that more and more individuals and families are going to find themselves as caregivers and to your point – in the workplace. Caregiving is challenging due to managing work-life balance.
Our worker survey finds that 86% made one or more adjustments to their employment as a result of becoming a caregiver, ranging from missing days of work to taking a leave of absence, and, in extreme cases, quitting a job altogether. Other types of work adjustments include changing work arrangements and hours.
My concern is that these types of adjustments could impact a worker’s paycheck and their future earning power – which, in turn, could inhibit their ability to save for their own future retirement.
Al Waller: All these types of work adjustments can put workers in a precarious situation. Supporting your parents is something that we all want to be able to do if called upon to do so, but simultaneously, we must think about our future and its implications on retirement. Based on your team’s research on employers, what are they doing to support their caregiving workers?
Catherine Collinson: Our most recent survey of employers yielded some encouraging news. Employers – especially larger companies – are starting to step up and offer best practices, but there’s still a lot of room for growth.
For example, the most often-cited type of support is an unpaid leave of absence, which is offered by 40% of employers. Thirty-seven percent of employers indicate they offer paid leave. Almost one in four employers provide online resources and tools for caregivers (24%) and an employee assistance program with counseling and referral services (24%). Twenty-one percent of employers provide a benefit that offers discounts or subsidies for backup care (e.g., a caregiver, in-home care, adult day care).
I want to reiterate that larger companies are more likely to provide these resources compared with small businesses – which is important for our job-seeking listeners to take into consideration.
Al Waller: What about training for managers? In my experience as an HR consultant, many managers were unaware of caregivers, and they lacked the knowhow to effectively manage various scenarios and situations.
Catherine Collinson: Al, that’s an excellent question. Managers can make all the difference for their caregiving employees -- and all their employees. Unfortunately, our employer survey found that just 21% of employers offer training to managers to support caregiving employees, so this is a best practice that hopefully all employers will someday implement.
Company leaders can be so helpful by fostering a compassionate work environment. Caregiving can be draining physically, mentally, and emotionally – and a supportive work environment can make it easier for caregivers and generate goodwill among all employees.
Importantly, managers can also help raise awareness about the company’s policies and employee benefits – and point employees in the direction of the HR department, if needed.
Al Waller: In my experience, I also found that it’s incredibly important for company leaders and managers to promote their employee assistance programs and caregiver-related programs – so that everyone is aware of the available benefits. I’ve found that caregiving is not something that’s top of mind for many employees – until they become a caregiver.
Catherine, you and your team have been focusing on caregivers for quite some time now, what gives you hope?
Catherine Collinson: I recently heard the expression, “Progress happens in strange ways.” One such example is the rapid transformation of the workforce at the onset of the pandemic which, literally overnight, brought flexible hours and remote work arrangements.
According to our employer survey findings, almost six in 10 employers (58%) now offer flexible schedules, 44% offer hybrid work arrangements, and 36% offer the ability to work exclusively remotely. This new way of working is creating a more inclusive workforce, especially for caregivers who would be unavailable to work without this flexibility.
Al Waller: You’re absolutely right. The combination of flexible work arrangements, remote working, and other technology innovations have created more inclusive workforce opportunities for caregivers, as well as stay-at-home parents, older people, individuals lacking transportation access, and individuals with underlying health conditions, disabilities, or limited mobility.
As we wrap up this episode, what tips do you have for our caregiving listeners?
Catherine Collinson:
1. If you are employed, find out what types of programs your employer offers to caregiving employees. As we discussed, employers are doing more and more these days.
2. Protect your own health and well-being. Caregiving can take a physical and emotional toll. For caregivers, it’s especially important to eat healthy, get plenty of sleep, manage stress, and stay on top of routine check-ups and screenings. Seek mental health care, when needed.
3. Ask for help and accept help from family and friends. This is hard for a lot of people to do. Enlisting help from others can help ease the burden – and help avoid potential burnout.
4. Learn about the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which is the federal law that requires covered employers to provide their employees with protected, unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons.
5. Explore programs that provide financial assistance to caregivers. If the care recipient has long-term care insurance, check whether that coverage may pay for a family caregiver versus a hired caregiver. Also, some government programs pay family or friends of people with disabilities to help with daily activities including personal care, giving medicine, cooking, cleaning, and more. Check your state’s Medicaid office for more information. Lastly, if you’re incurring a lot of expenses on behalf of the care recipient, check to see if you might be able to claim them as a dependent for tax purposes.
Al Waller: Thanks, Catherine. Before we sign off, where can our listeners learn more about your research, as well as other caregiving-related resources?
Catherine Collinson: Our research can be found on our website at transamericainstitute.org.
There are also many resources available through other organizations. Some of my favorites are:
- Your employers’ resources, if available
- Caregiver Action Network – Programs, tools, and tips
- USA.gov – Caregiver support
- National Alliance for Caregiving – List of organizations and resources with hyperlinks
- AARP – Family caregiving
- WISER, the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement – Caregiver financial impacts and resources
Last but not least, I’d like to highlight the outstanding work of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers.
On a very important final note, I want to remind you and our listeners to protect your PII – your personally identifying information – and the PII of those you are caring for. Be sure to find reputable sources and do your due diligence. Be aware of suspicious websites, links, emails, phone calls, or requests for this type of information. Like so many other aspects of our lives, scammers focusing on caregivers are on the rise.
Al Waller: Thanks, Catherine, to you and your team for your outstanding research and insights. For our listeners, if you have ideas for future episodes, comments, or feedback, please email me or Catherine at [email protected]. Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast so you don’t miss upcoming episodes.
Until the next time, I’m your host Al Waller. Stay safe, be well and thanks for listening.
ClearPath – Your Roadmap to Health & Wealth is brought to you by Transamerica Institute, a nonprofit private foundation dedicated to identifying, researching, and educating the public about retirement security and the intersections of health and financial well-being.
You can find our weekly podcast on WYPR’s website and mobile app, wherever you get your podcasts, and at transamericainstitute.org/podcast.
ClearPath – Your Roadmap to Health & Wealth is produced by the Transamerica Institute with assistance from WYPR.
The information provided here is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as insurance, securities, ERISA, tax, investment, legal, medical, or financial advice or guidance.
1Caregiving in the U.S. 2020, National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, 2020. https://www.caregiving.org/research/caregiving-in-the-us/
