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The graying of America will revolutionize the kinds of benefits employers provide as more firms offer programs to help workers deal with their aging parents. Managers also will have a new role: convincing workers that their careers won't suffer if they use the programs.
As more workers enter the "sandwich" years-taking care of children at home and aging parents at the same time-many will worry as much about elder care as they do about child care. The number of Americans over the age of 65 is expected to double to 70 million by 2030, up from today's 35 million. Some 22 million U.S. households currently provide elder care, and that figure will only increase as the baby boom generation gets older. More than 70% of unpaid caregivers are women, and nearly two-thirds of these women are employed full time or part time.
Employers are slowly realizing that caregiving has an impact on work: As many as 12% of workers, mainly women, quit their jobs to take care of older family members. The lost productivity and turnover cost businesses up to $29 billion a year, according to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
That impact is prompting more employers to think of ways to help workers juggle work with their responsibilities to care for elderly family members. A recent survey from Hewitt Associates found that nearly half of large employers in '99 offered some kind of elder care assistance, up from 20% in '93.
But according to a '98 Gallup study, few workers use elder care services offered by their employers. About 40% said that workers who rearrange their work schedules for family reasons are less likely to get ahead, and 40% also said that their immediate manager did not encourage them to use work/life benefits.
It's not enough to offer assistance. Companies have to encourage workers to use those resources, says Bonnie Lawrence of the nonprofit Family Caregiver Alliance in San Francisco. The key is for top management to help managers understand that such programs can boost workers' productivity and morale.
More employers will offer flexible work schedules and leave policies. Firms will go beyond the federal requirements, which fall short for many workers facing difficulties at home. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off to take care of family members who are seriously ill. But the law applies only to firms with more than 50 workers, and some workers who are covered can't afford to take leave without pay. Look for employers, even some smaller firms, to provide paid leave and more flexibility in scheduling so that workers can deal with sick relatives.
Another tactic more businesses will try: subsidizing local adult day care community centers. Most of the 4000 adult day care centers in the United States are nonprofit or publicly funded. More employers will jump in, mindful that workers who know their elderly family members are getting good care will devote all of their attention to their jobs. Adult day care and health centers are the "best kept secret" in elder care policy and "will take off" in the coming years, Lawrence says.
Some employers will turn to employee assistance programs (EAPs) to provide their workers with help on elder care. In fact, employers will expect EAP services to focus more on elder care, says Keith Dixon, president of CIGNA Behavioral Health, which provides EAPs. That means EAPs will spend more time evaluating nursing homes and home health care agencies so workers will know where to turn. Employers also will expect EAPs to provide workers with advice on legal services focusing on wills and trusts, not just on the more common topic of divorce, Dixon notes.
In addition, more employers will implement one or more of the following strategies:
- Offering cafeteria-style employee benefits that allow workers to select supplemental dependent-care coverage to reimburse costs for in-home care or adult day care.
- Banding together to provide information on local community programs and on matters such as in-home care, adult day care and residential care facilities.
- Holding company elder care "fairs" or brown-bag lunches that focus on topics such as finding nursing homes and home care, dealing with Alzheimer's and other diseases and locating attorneys who specialize in elder law.
- Using the company's intranet to publicize elder care benefits and resources, and establishing a telephone hot line or publishing a list of local contacts in the company's newsletter.
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