Employees “moonlighting” as Caregivers to aging parents or loved ones affects your bottom line. Our employee benefit program “Care Connect At Work” can help your business and your employees.
Eldercare is the new silent epidemic in the workplace. In the 1980’s, businesses adapted their human resource policies to accommodate the needs of workers with young children in child care. Now, many of those workers – your employees – face a new responsibility: providing care for an older parent, relative or friend.
While noble, eldercare affects workplace morale and company profits. Adaptable companies can turn this societal change into an advantage and even a competitive edge by becoming “Eldercare Friendly”.
Companies that do:
- Find it easier to attract and retain the best workers.
- Increase productivity by reducing absenteeism, presenteeism, and stress on employees and employers.
- Reduce disruptions in the work schedule.
- Enhance their community image, which can help an organization become an employer of choice.
A Silent Epidemic In the Workplace
Moonlighting As An Elder Caregiver
Employees with eldercare responsibilities are basically “moonlighting” due to the time, responsibility and drain it takes on them. Many companies frown upon moonlighting and some ban it because of the damage to workplace production and the company’s overall wellbeing.
This dilemma puts companies in a unique situation. How do employers handle workers who said the following in a recent eldercare survey:
- 56% said they were less productive at work.
- 51% said they had to take time off during the work day for eldercare.
- 30% reported being absent for full days to deal with eldercare matters.
- 6% had to give up work entirely.
There Are Solutions
Care Connect Can Help
1 in 5 workers throughout the U.S. are helping an elder. How do you turn that fact into a positive for your company? Simple. Call us to discuss our Care Connect At Work employee benefit program.
Company Benefits of Care Connect At Work:
Employee Benefits of Care Connect At Work:
Eldercare takes a toll on the employee and employer
Workers often say they have difficulty getting their supervisors to understand the challenges elder caregivers face. Balancing work and family obligations can be very stressful. Care Connect believes these issues warrant the business owner’s attention sooner than later, and Care Connect can help.
- Employees who are elder caregivers average an additional 8% in health costs to employers and non-caregiver type employees.
- In the U.S., that 8% costs employers $13 billion per year.
- Average cost is $2,110 per full-time employed elder caregiver.
- Employees providing eldercare are more likely to report fair or poor health in general.
- Employees providing eldercare are significantly more likely to report depression, diabetes, hypertension, or pulmonary disease regardless of age, gender, and work type.
- Employees with eldercare responsibilities are more likely to report missed days of work, particularly among younger caregivers ages 18-39.
- Elder caregivers who get no help bring costs to the company in the form of turnover, absenteeism, workday interruptions, supervisory time, unpaid leave, and possibly reducing hours from full-time to part-time.
Respond to eldercare issues now!
Respond to eldercare issues now! Employers can serve the best interests of their employees and their company by anticipating and responding to the challenges of eldercare among their employees.
The eldercare benefits in combination with wellness programs offered by Care Connect At Work can provide needed support to your employee caregivers and be a vehicle to directly reduce employee health care costs, resulting in bottom-line benefits to the employer.