1. The Juggling Act: Work & Caregiving
And What Businesses Should Do…
Lizbeth A. Kalina, RN, MMHS
Professional Geriatric Care Management Services
Elder Care Connections, Inc

2. The Juggling Act: Work & Caregiving
44.4 million family caregivers in the U.S. 27 million workers are family caregivers

3. Awareness This presentation will:
Address the scale and the scope of family caregiving
Discuss the impact of caregiving on your employees and the organization itself
Include tools to use when assisting employees with elder care responsibilities

4. Definition  
Caregiving = providing unpaid assistance for the physical and emotional needs of another person over the age of 18.

5. Interesting Caregiving Statistics
75% of women between ages of 45 and 60 work 49% working caregivers are men Family members provide more than 80% of in-home-care for their frail parents.

6. The Impact of Family Caregiving on Productivity
Workday interruptions
Absenteeism
Presenteeism
Supervisor interruptions
Decreased work hours
Taking leaves of absence, going part-time, quitting, or retiring
Recruitment, retention/training issues

7. Employer costs related to caregiving
The Bottom Line
Employer costs related to caregiving
$6.6 billion Cost to business to replace 2.4% of employees who leave the workforce entirely to be caregivers
$5.0 billion Absenteeism
$2.0 billion Partial absenteeism
$6.3 billion Workday interruptions
$3.8 billion Crises during the workday
$1.8 billion Supervision
$3.4 billion Unpaid leave
$4.8 billion Reduction from full to part-time

8. Direct Costs Average caregiver costs an employer $2,110 per year.
Conservative total annual cost to employers nationwide for all caregivers is $33 billion.
1/3 of all adults in the U.S. under 50 have a chronic illness or disability making real cost of caregiving
to employers nationwide closer to $90 billion.

9. Soft Costs But there’s a way to alleviate the impact to your business…
Lower work performance
Lower physical well-being
Lower levels of satisfaction at home and at work
But there’s a way to alleviate
the impact to your business…

10. Value of Caregiving or Eldercare Program to your business
$3 to $14 return on every $1 spent on eldercare
Lower workforce turnover/retention of trained staff
Employee loyalty/commitment to the company
Reduction of health care costs
Increased productivity
Reduction in absenteeism

11. What Businesses Can Do To Help the Caregiving Employee
Flexible work hours
PTO, vacation, sick days, Personal leaves
FMLA provisions
EAP services/Mental health counseling
Be cognizant of other legal aspects of caregiving, such as ADEA, ADA, etc.
Lunchtime or Brown Bag Seminars
Elder Care Benefits
In-house caregiver support groups
Professional Geriatric Care Manager Partnership
Provide Information about federal, state, and local resources to fill gaps where company programs stop such as:
local Elder daycare programs
In-home caregiving services
Community social services
Helpful Internet sites or resource centers

12. Training the Front-Line Supervisor
Professional seminars
In-house training program
Professional Geriatric Care Manager Partnership

13. How to Get Started Establish a corporate policy for working caregivers
Act as a local eldercare resource
Make available fact sheets, checklists and guides
Open dialogue with employee about their needs; find ways to minimize impact to business
Be flexible – with work hours, provide time to make calls

14. Locally owned licensed personal services agency.
Resource for seniors and their families for 15 yrs.
Assist seniors in their efforts to gain optimal independence and live purposeful lives.
Provide information, guidance and support to families experiencing changing roles, and challenges that accompany aging.
Partner with businesses to develop and provide eldercare programs
Professional Geriatric Care Management Services Elder Care Connections, Inc