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As the population ages and people live longer, the demands of caring for elderly relatives will affect a large and growing part of every employer's workforce. It will become increasingly important to both employee retention and productivity for companies to offer caregiving workers support and assistance.
An estimated one-quarter of American employees are now providing some kind of care for an elderly relative. About half of these caregivers are employed full time. Meanwhile, the number of Americans over the age of 65 is growing five to eight times faster than that of working-age people, and many experts believe that the demand for elder care will surpass that for child care in the near future.
By 2020, 40% of the workforce will be caring for an elderly relative, according to Jody Grant, director of work and family at the National Partnership for Women and Families. "And as the numbers grow, so do the issues and stresses these workers face," she says.
Inevitably, employers feel the impact. The pressures of caring for an older relative often lead to increased absenteeism, extended leaves of absence, early retirement and clinical depression, all of which take a toll on productivity. Caregiving causes employees to pass up promotions or plum assignments or even to quit. A survey by the Family Caregiver Alliance found that about one in five caregivers quit their jobs. Another 42% said they reduced their work hours to accommodate the needs of an elderly charge.
Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. has estimated that lost productivity and turnover due to workers' elder care demands cost businesses up to $29 billion a year. And the costs are expected to skyrocket as the number of caregivers booms.
With such statistics in mind, more and more companies, particularly large ones, are taking steps to rein in the expenses associated with elder care. One of the quickest and easiest approaches is extending existing benefits, such as sick leave, flexible work schedules and employee assistance programs, to manage the needs of wage earners who provide elder care. Some employers will even go beyond the requirements of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows employees of businesses with more than 50 workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for seriously ill family members.
Elder care resource and referral programs will be the most frequently offered benefit. Programs that give employees access to experts who help them one-on-one with specific concerns can save workers hours of research time, reducing lost productivity. For example, a worker in California with an elderly relative in New York might use the resource service to get information regarding her relative's impending surgery. She could also receive written referrals to resources near her relative's home—for geriatric specialists or a pharmacy that makes deliveries, for example. As her relative recovers at home, the employee could receive referrals for a home health aide program or a service that delivers meals to older people.
Typically, the employer pays for workers' use of consultation and referral programs, and employees are responsible for selecting and paying for specific services. Nationwide, resource and referral services have just begun to sprout up, but most are local. State agencies on aging are a good place to find information about them.
In addition to providing resources, time off and flexible scheduling, more employers will subsidize adult day care community centers or set up their own on-site centers. "If workers know their elderly relatives are safe and secure, they will be able to devote their full attention to their jobs," says Grant.
While that option is too expensive for most employers, there are a variety of low- or no-cost elder care strategies worth considering:
- Lunchtime seminars. Brown-bag sessions with speakers provided by community groups, often for free, cover topics such as safe driving for older people, dealing with memory loss or improving safety in an older relative's home.
- Information centers. Electronic or traditional bulletin boards for posting information about elder care, including newspaper and magazine articles, material from community support groups, brochures from the local or state agency on aging or facts from the federal Administration on Aging. The agency offers a free elder care locator service, which refers callers to services for older people anywhere in the country. The telephone number is 800-677-1116.
- Resource libraries. Employers can easily make books, audio recordings, videotapes and binders of articles relating to elder care available in a central place for borrowing or browsing.
- Caregiver fairs. On their own or as part of a larger event focusing on health and well-being, such fairs feature advice from outside experts on finding nursing homes or locating attorneys who specialize in elder law.
Researcher-Reporter: Michael J. Smith
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