Taking Care of the Caregiver

More than 50 million people provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aging family member during any given year. Whoever said that family matters must stay out of the workplace has never been a caregiving family member.

So just who are these folks who are juggling responsibilities in the workplace as well as their home space? Here is a snapshot of caregivers in the United States:

• Nearly 61 percent of caregivers are employed either full-time or part-time.
• The median age for those caring for adults is 50.6 years.
• Upward of 75 percent of all caregivers are female

How does this impact the caregiving employee at work? Working women experience a decrease in work hours, an increase in passed up job promotions, switches from full-time to part-time and early retirement.

And what about the cost to employers who are now seeing the emotional and physical toll that caregiving takes on its workers?  In one study, 75 percent of employees caring for family members reported negative health consequences, including depression, stress, panic, attacks, headaches, loss of energy and sleep, weight changes and physical pain. 

Businesses also suffer through higher health insurance costs and lost productivity. Companies that don’t offer benefits or address elder / dependent care wind up paying for them anyway. Studies indicate that U.S. companies pay into the billions annually in addressing absenteeism, replacing employees who quit to provide direct care and other care-related activities.

So what can employers do to assist employees, while minding business needs? Formal support is important, but even more critical is a workplace culture that sympathizes with the issues caregiving employees face, and encourages workers to use available services. This must be a top-down attitude, where supervisors and managers are trained to be sensitive to staff with family care issues. Providing Employee Assistance Programs in the workplace is an essential way to put employees in touch with a trained counselor who can help them navigate through all of the stresses of balancing work and family responsibilities.

Taking care of the caregiver simply makes sense – for both employers and families alike. I could give you statistics all day long, but I would rather leave you with this.  Caregiving, put simply, is a labor of love. It’s the hardest job you’ll ever have, and also the most rewarding. How do I know? Because I, too, am a caregiver – and wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s not time lost but time gained with those you love most.  Mother Teresa said it best. “It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into the doing.” And this I love doing for my own sweet mama. How many of you can relate?

Can You Relate is a column from Noblesville High School grad Branna (McCarty) Shores. Branna believes that “HOME is where your story begins.” A Noblesville native and proud alum of NHS and Purdue, she is a professional speaker, advocate for mental health and work / family balance and retired social worker. Branna is the mother of two grown daughters, six precious grandchildren and wife of one brave husband! Her passions include singing, writing and sharing the lighter side of life through lessons learned, both personally and professionally. She can be contacted at branna18@gmail.com