You’re an
HR Manager,
Business Partner,
or Team Leader.
The nature of your role requires you to be focused on
3 broad things:
Employee Performance
Overall Wellness
Employee Retention
” What happens when these three metrics start dwindling, and what does that mean for you as a Human Resource practitioner? “
Employee Performance takes a dive when their attention is divided between full-time work and caregiving duties after hours. On average, caregivers spend +-24 hours per week providing care. This is over and above a regular workweek of 40 hours. Realistically, how much do you think a 60+ hour work week impacts performance?
Employee Wellness takes a dive when the financial and physical burden of juggling a full-time job and caregiver duties becomes too much. Six in 10 (60%) of employed caregivers work full time, and caregivers are found in every generation – from Millennials to Baby Boomers. This means the entire demographic spectrum of your workforce is impacted, no one is exempt.
Employee Retention takes a dive when resignations start rolling in due to the inability of some businesses to accommodate employees who have to juggle both caregiving duties and full-time jobs. Caregivers with at least some college education show a marked increase in the difficulty of care coordination, i.e. the more skilled you are, the more difficult it is to juggle the demands of full-time employment and adequate caregiving.
Research conducted by the TransAmerica Institute (The Many Faces of Caregivers: A Close-Up Look at Caregiving and Its Impacts: 2020) uncovered a glaring mismatch between the reality of caregiving for employees and the *perceived impact of this on workplace performance for employers. The results may surprise you. It’s always interesting when we observe a problem that others don’t even consider to be a problem at all.
What do the statistics say?
The reality is this: 1 in 5 caregivers report high physical and financial strain (burnout) as a result of caregiving duties, yet, only 24% of employers recognize that caregiving has a direct impact on workers’ performance.
69% of caregivers surveyed have NO paid help in caring for their seniors. This is despite the increasing complexity of the conditions they need to care for (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer, etc.).
In a nutshell, caregiving duties continue to be extremely demanding, while help or resources to ease the burden are absent. Furthermore, one out of five caregivers of adults feels alone and unsupported.
Caregivers report significantly worse health across all hours of care and ages of recipients; among both low- and high-income caregivers; among all marital statuses; and among both those who had a choice and those who had no choice in providing care. This means the problem is not isolated to one group. It affects the entire workforce.
As the median age of caregivers are 51 years, this means that your most experienced portion of the workforce is likely to resign due to caregiving duties. While replacing them with younger employees at a reduced cost is an option, research shows that younger employees (50% of those surveyed, aged 26-35 years) are more likely to leave their full-time job due to caregiving responsibilities.
What impact will this have on recruiting and retaining top talent? We cannot ignore the effect the pandemic has had on these statistics. Time is precious, and so is family.
With the following questions, we have isolated the core elements of what will shape the American workforce for the next couple of years and enable HR personnel to not only recruit, but retain top talent.
Question 1
How do HR Managers retain quality staff, while ensuring workplace performance remains satisfactory? (how do we keep the business happy?)
Question 2
How do HR Managers balance employee performance with their increasing need to be there for a loved one within a caregiving capacity? (how do we keep our employees happy?)
Question 3
Who will mentor and train youngsters if our seasoned employees resign due to caregiver responsibilities?
Question 4
How flexible is your business to allow for added time-off for employees who have caregiver duties?
Question 5
How can we manage the risk of employee burnout and eventual resignation if the burden of caregiving and full-time employment becomes too much?
Question 6
What is the opportunity cost for our HR team to try and fill vacancies of those who have resigned as a result of their caregiving responsibilities?
More employees are having to juggle caregiver duties with their full-time jobs. As a result, their work performance suffers and they require more time off/more flexibility which impacts their performance.
When confronted with a choice between full-time employment and caregiving, most will try and balance both for financial reasons.
The employee who has also become a caregiver.
- Approximately 41.8 million Americans have provided unpaid care to an adult age 50 or older in the prior 12 months.
- Three in 5 caregivers are women (61%) and 2 in 5 are men (39%)
- On average, caregivers of adults are 49.4 years old, with a median age of 51.0 years.
- Caregivers are found in every generation – from Millennials to Baby Boomers.
- Most caregivers take care of a relative (89 percent).
- The average duration of caregiving is 4.5 years.
- On average, caregivers spend 23.7 hours per week providing care, with a median of 10 hours.
- Six in 10 employed caregivers work full time (60 percent) and another 15 percent work between 30 and 39 hours. On average, employed caregivers work 35.7 hours a week.
- Nearly one in five caregivers report high physical and financial strain as a result of their caregiving duties.
- Caregivers with at least some college education show a marked increase in difficulty of care coordination (34 percent vs. 23 percent in 2015.)
Unfortunately, this is a problem that’s growing in part due to the impact of COVID-19 along with the Silver Tsunami – the aging baby boomer population that’s living longer but doesn’t necessarily have enough financial resources to age in place or in another home care setting.
The View from
The Employers Perspective?
- Just over a third of all employers surveyed (38%) believed that caregiving responsibilities had no impact on employee performance at their organization.
- Another 38% were on the fence or professed not to know. Only 24% recognized that caregiving had a direct impact on their workers’ performance.
- Nearly one-third of employees said that they had voluntarily left at least one job because of an inability to balance work and care responsibilities.
- Younger employees were more likely to leave relative to older employees: 50% of employees aged 26−35 years and 27% of employees under the age of 26 reported that they had already left a job due to caregiving responsibilities.
So, what is the SOLUTION?
Networking with trusted resources in the senior care industry. Tapping into a hyper-targeted, comprehensive network of trusted resources that can handle every aspect of care and services required for today’s aging population. There are several senior-centric networks in Arizona and around the country.
Streamlined resources that include patient advocates, home health support, affordable living placement, special legal issues and so much more.
Imagine being able to help that employee who’s become a new caregiver by giving them their own navigation tool. One wheelhouse of vetted-out services to support and guide them, along with their aging loved ones, through this stage of the life journey.
Senior Resource Connectors seamlessly integrates into existing Employee Assistance Programs (EPAs) and helps HR Practitioners to mitigate the risks associated with employee burnout due to caregiver duties.
Together, we can change the narrative of this story.
We work together by networking smartly. We care by providing targeted, trusted resources in the senior care industry.
As a result, we succeed in maintaining, productive, healthy talent in the workplace.
