- Key insight: Discover how caregiver support is shifting from perk to core workforce strategy.
- What's at stake: Unaddressed caregiving costs risk productivity, retention and benefits-spend volatility.
- Expert quote: Thiboldeaux: Caregiving underpins major health issues — cancer, mental health chronic disease.
Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review
"Millions of employees are caregivers. Many of them are sandwich caregivers taking care of kids and aging parents," says Kim Thiboldeaux, NEBGH's CEO. "Hundreds of billions of dollars are unaccounted for in the economy around the time that caregivers spend in that role. It's showing up in the workplace, and employers are trying to think more systematically about how they deal with it."
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The common thread that runs through all of today's major health topics — cancer, mental health,
To help address the needs they were hearing, NEBGH gathered insight through bi-weekly calls it holds with senior benefit leaders from its employer members, as well as feedback from focus groups, one-on-one meetings and annual employer surveys to build a comprehensive website filled with various ways to support working caregivers. The site is free to access by anyone.
"Many of our employers are investing in resources, policies, vendor partnerships and plan design," Thiboldeaux explains. "But part of what we wanted to do as well for employers was to give them some thoughts and tips that wouldn't cost them a lot of money. We wanted to curate the organizations that are out there that provide free support, and connect [employers] with one another so they have that benchmarking and networking opportunity."
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It also aims to help benefit leaders make a business case for caregiving support, and teach managers how to identify and support their caregiver team members. A guide created in partnership with AARP
It's important for leaders to remember that recognition and a sense of community are two of the biggest caregiver needs, and much can be done outside of actual benefits to meet these, Thiboldeaux says.
"They can be providing caregiver support groups and curating support resources. For example, groups like the Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Associations have caregiving resources and caregiver support, so connect employees and families to them," she says.
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For its members, NEBGH offers the option to co-brand on health communication and initiatives, taking some of the lift off of benefit leaders and HR and adding an element of employer commitment in the eyes of employees, says Thiboldeaux. Employees can distinguish between companies where caregiving support is a true priority versus just lip service, she notes, and benefit leaders in particular can help their business walk the walk.
"The best scenario is they sit down with you to understand the situation, to highlight all of the resources that are available, and follow up with you if you're not getting what you need," she says. "When we look at presenteeism and absenteeism, when we look at loyalty to a company and retention, the employer that goes above and beyond is the one that's going to have greater success."
