HR leaders share how they’re supporting their caregivers

5 HR leaders share how they’re supporting their caregivers

October 28, 2021 9:00 AM

Employees who support others need more support from their employers.

Caregivers comprise 45% of the workforce, according to a Bank of America report. These individuals provide unpaid care to children, spouses, family members and friends, playing a critical role in their health and safety. But when it comes to their own well-being, caregivers are often at the bottom of the priority list: 40% of caregivers say they suffer from poor mental health and burnout, and struggle to manage their work and home responsibilities, CDC data found.

COVID further exposed how vulnerable this population is, and many organizations have stepped up their benefits, offering greater workplace flexibility, more robust child care, financial resources, healthcare support and more. Employee Benefit News spoke with CEOs and HR leaders on how to offer the support your caregivers need.

Tailor your approach

“A lot of companies are discussing the hybrid work environment, which sounds very flexible and appealing, but the problem is, you can’t easily hire hybrid care. We’re hearing about companies who want their workers to be in the office for one to two weeks every month, and that makes it hard to find a nanny or an in-home aid to take care of parents or a loved one with disabilities. A lot of our largest employer partners have come to us to discuss the unique needs of their workforce. The message to employers is to think about working with your vendor partners, and really collaborating to solve those concerns.”

-Lindsay Jurist-Rosner, co-founder and CEO of

Wellthy

Reap the business benefits

“Many family-friendly benefits have a very high ROI for business results. Businesses get to enjoy higher retention of productive and motivated employees. Employers should not shy away from asking, ‘What's in it for me?’ in providing family-friendly benefits, because there is usually a strong business case. COVID has highlighted the importance of focusing on productivity over activity and so we are doing a lot of work focusing on how to work smarter, not harder. The companies that will come out on top over the next one to two years are the ones that will continue to invest in developing and retaining top talent during and through this pandemic.”

-Allison Whalen, a co-founder and CEO of

Parentaly

Focus on the future

“It’s going to be a short time that you're providing child care as an employee benefit, but an employer who does that is going to retain talent, and you're going to have an increase in organizational commitment. This shows that you are a place that actually values the employee as a whole person and not just as a cog.”

-Leilani Carver, an associate professor of communications at Maryville University

Provide full-spectrum support

“Employers are dealing with this question of, ‘How do I get my employees to come back to work given the reality of caregiving?’ What we do is figure out what's really happening so you can come up with a good plan as to what to do. Caregiving is a process — it's not a single event. [We have] a care team that includes social workers, nurses and physicians, and then a very comprehensive technology platform to really dig into the details of what's really happening in these cases.”

-Evan Falchuk, CEO and chairman of

Family First

Turn to technology

“Technology is just more efficient and effective. It’s great for making sure your family is coordinated on the treatment plan; everyone knows when and what meds need to be taken, [for example.] We leveraged that to build an infrastructure to support care in the home, because the solutions that already existed for caregiving only serve the hospitals and the healthcare system. That’s good for the employee, and helps employers get the utilization of benefits they’re already paying for.”

-Jessica Kim, co-founder of

Ianacare