Employers Start to Offer Benefits for Elder Care

12/09/2014
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Elder Care: Employers Recognize the Struggle of Employees Overwhelmed by Caregiving

Employees who are caregivers for a senior loved one, most often a parent, feel the pinch of responsibility from all angles — from work, from their own family life, and from providing elder care. This situation, most often affects adult employees of a generation sometimes referred to as “The Sandwich Generation”.

The Sandwich Generation is the generation of middle-aged individuals who’re effectively ‘sandwiched’ between the obligation of caring for their aging parents — who may be ill, unable to perform various tasks or in need of financial support — and children, who require financial, physical and emotional support. Add work obligations to that mix, and it’s clear to see, a good number of people are struggling. Fortunately, many employers are starting to recognize the struggle and are willing to help provide some relief.

A recent article in The Washington Post highlights a new trend where employers are beginning to recognize the plight of their employees with regard to their elder care obligations and the time constraints and stress that caregiving can cause.

“As the population ages and more people live longer with chronic medical conditions — for instance, the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease is expected to nearly triple by 2050 — companies are beginning to grapple with growing numbers of workers who have elder-care responsibilities.

Some, including pioneers such as Fannie Mae in the Washington area, are offering not only flexibility, but also benefits such as emergency backup adult care, geriatric assessments, social workers to assist with referrals for adult day-care programs, and help with legal, financial and emotional counseling. For caregivers whose parents live far away, some companies offer privacy and time for workers to Skype into parents’ appointments with doctors.”

Studies have found that two-thirds of those who take care of an aging relative are working. A majority are women, but a growing share are men. As many as 40 percent of caregivers for elderly relatives say they work in inflexible environments and have been forced to reduce their hours or quit.

“MetLife estimates that failing to support workers with elder-care responsibilities can cost as much as $34 billion a year in lost productivity, absenteeism, disengagement, turnover and increased health-care costs.” Workers stressed with elder-care duties are also often sicker.

“One MetLife study found it costs $2,100 per employee because of workday interruptions, reductions in hours and supervisor time trying to figure out how to cover for employees with elder-care duties,” said Michelle Stone, Fannie Mae work-life benefits program manager. “So we can look at how many people the elder-care consultant has seen and see there is a huge return on investment [when companies offer time off for elder care or allow flexibility in their work schedule].”

All of these facts in consideration, plus the reality that many company executives are also part of The Sandwich Generation, has created an impetus for change.

“Among the biggest drivers of innovative elder-care benefits, advocates are finding, are CEOs and organizational leaders who are struggling to care for aging parents. “It really starts at the top,” said John Schall, chief executive of the Caregiver Action Network, a nonprofit group that supports family caregivers. “They get religion on what it takes to keep people with elder-care responsibilities in the workforce, and then they push it through the culture.”

If at some point, caregiving becomes too much to handle and it comes time to seek the assistance of a senior living facility or in-home care, visit alternativesforseniors.com. There, you can search for a senior apartment, independent-living, assisted-living, or other continuing-care community that best meets your needs.

 

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BLOG Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Writer: Ryan Allen

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