The next chapter in the caregiver crisis
If you want to create an organization that is an advocate for caregivers, consider these three tips as table stakes.
While many of us are aware of the caregiver crisis, most don’t understand how many it truly affects.
Historically, our definition of caregiver has been far too myopic. We’ve been trained to believe that caregivers are children taking care of their parents or parents taking care of children with disabilities. We fail to recognize the ways in which all of us – and there are more than 53 million in the United States alone, myself included – are caregivers. It’s not a stretch to say that caregiving impacts most of us in our lifetimes.
In the workforce, caregiving is an expensive proposition – and not just for employees. Nearly 80% of caregivers have out-of-pocket expenses, equaling up to 20% of their income, and businesses pay on average $8,000 more for employee caregivers.
Related: Caregiving during pandemic increased financial stress for many Americans
Fortunately, businesses are getting savvy to the chaos caregiving causes for their employees and are taking the steps to put programs in place to support them. However, it’s still nascent and, if it’s something you’re not actively engaged in, don’t stress. If you want to create an organization that is an advocate for caregivers, consider the following three tips as table stakes.
1. Creating a caring culture is a full-contact sport.
One of the big evolutions facing modern businesses is that it’s no longer just about business. This is not to say businesses didn’t previously care about employees, but there was an invisible line in the sand where work started and ended and an employee’s personal life was just that – not something to be discussed at work. And, while there’s been a softening in businesses over the last few years, there has still been a hesitancy for them to reach out and embrace the challenges employees face in their personal lives, whether it be finances, mental health, or issues related to their families.
Progressive businesses have awakened to the reality that family is job one. COVID-19 was a reality slap for business and those employers who not only acknowledge but embrace that notion will win in the long run. For employees, this is now a differentiator and something they demand after the trials, tribulations, and tragedy of the last year-plus. That means that every leader in every department needs to create an open, transparent and empathetic environment for their employees.
The reality is that you have no idea if your senior engineer is mentally unplugged at work because her father has Alzheimer’s, she’s trying to determine how to carry a household with one salary, or she’s caring for a child or elderly parent who requires extra care and time. While all this is going on at home, she doesn’t have any degree of comfort talking about it at work for fear of losing her job or not getting that promotion.
The irony to this notion is that creating a culture of caring is a full-contact sport – there’s nothing “soft” about it. A lot of companies talk the talk – but you have to walk the walk and the only way to do that is to create policies and add benefits that change company behavior and really demonstrate your commitment to the personal well-being of your employees. This is not just about caregivers: it could be mental health or financial wellness benefits, for instance. But as it relates to caregivers, your business needs to help employees be better caregivers by providing the services to both support them and make them more effective.
2. Education is not a four-letter word for employee intervention.
The caregiver crisis has been a huge oversight by most businesses. It’s always been about putting out the fires once they arise, rather than taking preventive measures to avoid chaos. Unfortunately, caregiving is a population-wide phenomenon that impacts everyone. It is a public health crisis, and the way to solve a public health crisis is through a prevention paradigm. At the base of the paradigm – the awareness stage – is all of your employees. This audience needs to be educated – even if they aren’t currently caregivers. For businesses, there is an inherent bias toward education. It doesn’t feel tangible – until your people are dealing with a crisis. You should communicate proactively that the caregiver crisis is a real one that will touch all of us, and encourage the use of resources as needed.
The second stage of the paradigm is the intervention stage. This category is for caregivers with active challenges. It’s important too to focus on this segment because these are the employees who are more at risk of poor performance, high absenteeism, or even turnover. Data shows that vulnerable populations – women, blacks, Hispanics, and other ethnic groups, as well as the LGBTQ+ community – are far more probable to become caregivers and earlier in life. This further necessitates making your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives a higher priority, especially for caregivers.
The final stage of the paradigm is caregiver crisis. These are your employees with immediate and urgent caregiver needs. At this stage, additional resources and benefits may come into play. If you’ve addressed the first two stages, your employees should be more prepared when they hit this stage. Where companies often go wrong is focusing solely on this stage; without the first two, your caregivers are ill-prepared for how fast life comes at them when they are thrust into this role.
3. Make innovation core to your business – for your caregivers and for you.
Being a caregiver is an unpredictable job. A caregiver could be moving along at a steady pace for years and then all of a sudden a loved one’s health takes a downturn, a new diagnosis is made, or a behavioral challenge develops at home. Given the sheer volume of people in your organization that are caregivers – and dealing with their own unique set of circumstances – it’s important that you have a core technology that scales and speeds connections to expertise in real-time through intelligent technology.
By providing the resources in real time, you avoid the chaos that comes when people are unprepared for their own caregiver crisis, making them more productive in their jobs. In addition, a digital solution can offer workforce insights to HR leaders, allowing for better optimization of employee programs, policies, and benefits based on the actual needs of the workforce.
HR executives have an opportunity today to take a stand and lead in ways that have never been done in corporations. It’s worth your attention to think deliberately and intentionally about your company’s corporate caregiver strategy. With a thoughtful strategy in place, you will be amazed by the benefits to both your employees and your company’s bottom line when you show just how much you and your company care.
Adam Goldberg is CEO of Torchlight.
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