Its time to step up your benefits for working parents and employee caregivers
Employers who are able to bridge the care gap for their employees create a sustainable competitive advantage. Who doesn't want that?
Juggling caregiving and work is a balancing act that families have struggled with throughout time. While technology has made work more accessible, and more jobs can be done remotely with a flexible schedule, it really hasn’t changed how families care for each other. The result is that too many families are forced to choose between care for their loved ones and earning a living. Those employers able to bridge the care gap for their employees families create a sustainable competitive advantage that will allow them to attract and retain the best talent so they can truly own the market. It is a bridge that establishes a win for both employers and employees in a myriad of ways.
Flexible work schedules allow employees to arrive in the office or join a Zoom call at times that work around their care recipients schedule when necessary. For example, as schools partially open and close, employers need to accommodate shifting school schedules such as pick up and drop off days and times. According to the New York Times, nearly one-third of employees are working with children at home so a more flexible schedule means that work and life can be coordinated and balanced in a way to creates less stress for the employee.
Related: Amazon’s working moms campaign for childcare help
Access to more than just backup care. Back-up care services have been offered as an employer benefit for decades with the purpose of enabling employees to get to work on the occasional days when child care isn’t available. With technology and work cultures now encouraging working more than 40 hours per week, and the added challenges brought by COVID-19, many employees have increased the number of work hours performed while adding new care responsibilities, amounting to as much 15 hours per week or more. Growing beyond occasional backup care to safe, trusted, on-demand care options as an employee benefit is a winning strategy.
Access to more than child care. While one in three employees have kids at home, 40% of the workforce provides care for aging parents, missing 7 hours of work each week on average. Just like schools, elder care centers remain closed with COVID-19 and employees are struggling to provide care for their elders or those with special needs while they work. Moreover, the needs of this population require more and new services such as driving grandparents or parents to doctors appointments or a special needs sibling to a craft store in the middle of the day.
Older or special needs care recipients may need assistance with entering and exiting a vehicle, handling payment for services, or just require a caregiver with them ensuring cash and credit cards are used and then returned safely. Offering benefits that provide care for elders and those with special needs enables workers to work with some peace of mind, find work/life balance, and want to remain with their employers longer.
Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and Health Spending Accounts (HSA) allow employees to use pretax dollars to pay for specific IRS-approved care and medical supply purchases. With increased care costs associated with school and elder care closures plus costs of routine medical supplies, employers can help employees keep more of the cash they earn by offering FSA and HSA accounts.
Corporate subsidies that contribute to the cost of care enable every employee to gain access to the support needed to function as a productive member of the team regardless of the employee’s salary level in the organization.
Employees who deliver care to their families are under severe pressure to remain productive while balancing the needs of children, elders, those with special needs and even pets. Those employers who offer work-life balance to their teams as they thrash through constantly changing business, government, and school responses to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will win the talent acquisition war and ultimately achieve market success.
Employers solving these critical employee challenges gain an opportunity to differentiate themselves and truly live and illustrate their values by offering 24-7 care as a practical benefit that address underlying and varied care needs the member of their team face. Flexibility at work is also key in allowing employees to manage other parts of their life, like their child’s school schedule, that may have limited or no flexibility. Other key benefits components include extending care to include the broader needs of multi-generational and multi-pet families.
Finally, the employer can ease the financial burden of care by providing access to traditional FSA and HSA plans as well as directly subsidizing care. A better and broader care benefits package is a small price to pay to support employees who are doing their best to get the job done well so they and their employer can win in the market.
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