Benefits advisors' key role in supporting caregivers in the workplace

In most companies across this country, many colleagues are pulling double duty — working full-time jobs while also balancing caregiving responsibilities for a child, partner, parent, loved one, or member of their chosen family. According to Guardian’s recent Standing Up and Stepping In report, 1 in 5 American workers are shouldering caregiver responsibilities. 

At the same time, employees are also having to dedicate more time to caregiving, up from 9 hours a week in 2020 to 26 hours a week in 2023. This is especially true for those new to navigating caregiving responsibilities; whether evaluating assisted living options, arranging meal delivery services, or vetting childcare options, this work can be complex and overwhelming. 

What’s more, this crisis will likely grow, with the need for caregivers predicted to increase over the next decade.

As more employees take on these responsibilities, they face a heightened risk of physical, financial, and mental stress, which can lead to decreased productivity, lower engagement, and in the most challenging situations, the need to take a leave of absence from work. 

Related: Caregivers more stressed and less prepared for large emergency expenses

For employers and benefits advisors looking to support employees’ wellbeing and help minimize caregiving’s impact on the workplace, employee benefits are a powerful resource. Especially as open enrollment approaches, benefits advisors have a unique opportunity to partner with employer clients to help ensure they’re offering benefit plans and wellbeing programs that meet this growing need. 

Make the business case

For years, caregivers in the workplace juggled care responsibilities in silence, which often pushed them to the brink, or even into retirement.  

The changing demographics of caregivers mean this is no longer sustainable.  Millennials have officially surpassed Gen X employees as being the largest cohort of working Americans who also have caregiving responsibilities. And many millennials are balancing caregiving responsibilities on both ends, including managing doctors’ appointments for elderly parents and sourcing supplemental academic support for their young kids. Ultimately, these dual responsibilities can have significant implications for recruiting and retention practices. 

Most employers may already be committed to supporting employee wellbeing, but they too often regard it as a “nice to have” and not as a critical business imperative. It’s incumbent upon benefits advisors to help course correct. By framing the need to support caregiver colleagues in the context of business continuity and leadership development, advisors can help change the narrative around the importance of employee wellbeing while showcasing value for the employer. 

Drive change

Once an employer client has bought into the need to support caregivers in the workplace, benefits advisors can turn the conversation to benefits. 

According to Guardian’s report, just 44% of current caregiver colleagues say their benefits meet their needs. In light of this, one of the best places to start the conversation is around how employers can offer more impactful benefits. Helping clients look beyond traditional product basics is a key first step to doing so. 

Take disability insurance, for example. Guardian found that caregivers are two-times more likely than non-caregiver colleagues to need a leave of absence. However, across available carrier offerings, the core financial protection being offered by disability insurance is largely the same. 

In thinking about how best to support caregivers’ wellbeing, advisors should talk with employers about tapping carriers and other partners for additional value-added solutions. For example, consider how much time it takes to find in-network providers, schedule appointments, and transfer medical records for yourself. That’s all before even showing up for the appointment. Now, imagine doing that on behalf of an elderly parent with a complex medical history who lives far away. The ability to provide employees with resources to help manage this process could go a long way toward minimizing their need to take a leave of absence. 

Additionally, look to see if the partner includes any digital health solutions or knowledge-sharing communities as part of their embedded disability offering. Especially for employees who are new parents, a virtual care community to connect with other new parents on everything from birthing plans to backup care can be a vital resource. 

Helping employers identify these carrier-enabled resources can move the well-being needle for caregiver colleagues. 

Also: For caregivers, ‘bringing your whole self’ to work isn’t going to happen

Next, benefits advisors should help clients look at the bigger picture. In other words, while structuring the right benefits package and liaising with carriers is an advisor’s primary focus, helping ensure the right employer-provided benefits are offered is just the tip of the caregiver wellbeing iceberg. 

Where possible, encourage clients to work with their HR department to review how office policies and procedures can evolve to better support caregiver colleagues. For example, can in-office work requirements be adjusted, especially since return-to-work mandates can be a significant source of stress for caregivers? Another avenue is looking into potential collaborations with care providers to offer back-up or emergency care resources. While an employers’ resources are finite, even small tweaks to HR policies and procedures can help amplify the impact of the caregiver-friendly employee benefits being offered. 

With so much effort put towards plan design and HR support, advisors should consider turning their clients’ attentions toward developing a communications strategy that boosts utilization.

With open enrollment nearing, employers have a captive audience. Benefits advisors should encourage employers to seize this opportunity, capitalizing on resources provided by carrier and third-party providers.  Wellthy, for example, found that its direct-to-employee communications helped an employer drive a 1,500% increase in service sign-ups. 

Another powerful benefits communication tool that can help support enrollment is a company’s own employees — especially other caregivers. Whether a client has a formal caregiver-focused employee resource group or knows of a caregiver colleague who is open to sharing their story, this first-person account of how employee benefits helped support them in a moment of caregiving need can be a powerful call to action for others. 

Quantify the impact

When caregiver employees feel supported, everyone benefits. Research from Harvard Business School found that caregiver benefits deliver a significant return on investment for employers when it comes to retention, productivity and engagement, and creating a thriving and more equitable workplace culture.  More than two-thirds of employees with access to care benefits, for example, said they were more engaged in their jobs, and companies saw a more than two-to-one return just on retention alone. 

Caregiver benefits help pay for themselves, and offering them is one of the best steps employers can take to live up to their commitment to support employee wellbeing. Brokers can be the impetus for this change, and should talk to their employer clients today. 

Matt Darula is the Head of Product and Digital Offering at Guardian and Lindsay Jurist-Rosner is  the CEO and Co-Founder of Wellthy.