Partners on the Path

Reducing Caregiver Stress Improves Performance

There are caregivers in every organization

In healthcare or eldercare, it’s easy to recognize that most employees are professional caregivers. But across all other industries, research shows that about 20% of employees are family caregivers during their “off-work” hours.

With women entering the workforce in the 1980’s, childcare became an issue. With an aging US population and an aging workforce, today’s workforce issue is family caregiving. More than 22 million Americans are working family caregivers.

Because we’ve been providing organization-sponsored caregiver support programs since 1981, at Partners on the Path we know it’s important to recognize how caregiving impacts work performance and the workplace.

  • Roughly 70% of employed family caregivers report making some work adjustment – they rearrange work schedules; cut hours; take unpaid leave; forgo promotions; resign or retire early.
  • Juggling work and caregiving, as millions do, leads to absenteeism, presenteeism, arriving late/leaving early, workday interruptions, as well as costs for supervisory time and replacement costs for those who leave the workforce.
  • Working family caregivers’ productivity declines by about 20%, which amounts to annual losses of $2,100 to $2,400 per person.
  • Employers pay about 8% higher health benefits costs for caregiving employees. For blue collar caregivers, costs rise 11%; and for male caregivers costs are 18% higher.
  • As an organizational leader, what can you do? Best-practices suggest that you should:
    1. Be flexible and supportive when relating to caregiving employees.
    2. Institute policies and programs that promote a caregiver-friendly culture.
    3. Point caregivers to helpful resources offered by your organization, and by others.

To be the best, your organization needs staff to be at their best when they come to work.

Let us help you and your employees with our on-line, print or person-to-person resources that are formatted to meet the needs of two different audiences: either professional or family caregivers.