Happy Holidays!

Check Out Our Bonus Section For Holiday Tips For Caregivers

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ieadvocates
December 17, 2024

Working Caregivers-The Invisible Employees Newsletter

Brought to you by ieadvocates (invisible employee advocates)

Happy Holidays!

Thank you for being here!

We are almost at the end of the year and we are feeling very grateful for what the year has brought us. 2024 marked the launch of Working Caregivers-The Invisible Employees newsletter and podcast. Eight newsletters and podcast episodes later we are getting great feedback about the content we are delivering. We are very grateful to all of our guests and contributors thus far. If you would like to provide us any feedback or request future topics, please send us an email! We would love to hear from you!

We hope as you wrap up the year, you take some quality time to enjoy the holiday season with family and friends. Take the time to rest and recover, reflect and revive.

We added a bonus section for this newsletter to share articles about the holidays and caregivers. If you are a caregiver, take some time to read them for helpful tips. If you are not a caregiver, forward to someone who is or read them and raise your own awareness about what this important segment of our society goes through during the holidays.

Whether you’re an employer, business manager, HR, or a working caregiver, this newsletter offers valuable insights along with win-win-win simple solutions to help implement meaningful change for organizations, employees who are caregivers, and their care recipients.

We wish you a very happy, healthy and peaceful holiday season!

Table of Contents

In the news:

Latest research, events, and articles that are making an impact for working caregivers and their employers.

The 10 Most Common Complaints from Family Caregivers

If caregivers were more visible, then they would probably be heard more. What would they say? From our experience in speaking with many working caregivers, we can argue that they have every right to complain about many of the challenges and the difficulty of finding solutions to address them. If we could hear these complaints, then perhaps we could better help them develop solutions?

Fortunately AARP reached out to three experts who have authored books on family caregiving and have compiled a list of 10 most common complaints and what we can do about them. Here are a couple complaints shared and their accompanying solutions:

Complaint: Dealing with uncertainty. Caregivers can suffer from decision fatigue or uncertainty, causing them to struggle to make decisions.

Resolution: Think strategically. Focus on the present and what you have control over.

Complaint: Balancing multiple responsibilities. Work life balance is difficult to achieve when you have so many roles such as parent, employee, and caregiver. There are only so many hours in the day.

Resolution: Delegate whenever possible. This is so important. Learning to delegate what can be delegated for caregiving will give you some of your time back to focus on your other roles.

The three experts are:

Liz O’Donnell— Working Daughter: A Guide to Caring for Your Aging Parents While Making a Living. Liz will be on a future podcast episode and we have shouted out on the podcast her huge caregiver support group Working Daughter on Facebook.  

Paramount is ahead of the curve on eldercare

While we are starting to see a positive trend with employers in terms of starting to offer elder care benefits, Paramount has been doing it for 15 years. Paramount has focused on supporting its employees throughout the different stages of life.

“Michelle Martin, SVP of total rewards at Paramount, said the company previously only offered backup care, which is typically used if an older relative’s primary caregiver becomes unavailable, or they need a temporary aide for a finite period…... Paramount expanded its coverage about five years ago to offer an eldercare management program through Bright Horizons that offers employees help arranging a safety assessment of a loved one’s home, coaching about different care options, and more.”

Apparently this senior HR leader and her team have their ear to the ground and are listening to employees that are willing to share about the struggles they have with their caregiver journey. Some examples:

“Martin said that Paramount offers other benefits that aren’t specifically targeted at caring for older people but can be used for that purpose, giving employees even more resources. For example, it offers 15 paid days of compassionate care leave that can be used to help an elderly relative. Medical advocates can help elderly relatives understand Medicare bills and arrange rides to health providers. Later this year, it will be offering a bereavement program to help with the emotional aspects of losing a loved one, as well as address mundane tasks such as canceling the deceased’s subscriptions.”

BONUS: Holiday Tips For Caregivers, Managers, & HR

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Here are a few recent articles about the holiday season that are worth a read if you are a caregiver during the holiday season. We recommend even if you are not, these articles will raise your awareness about the issues caregivers deal with during the holidays.

🌟 How employers and employees can manage holiday-related stress by Keith Button, EBN December 11, 2024 (Note that you will need to create a free EBN account to read the full article).

  • Knowing the challenges can really help manage through the holidays as a caregiver or as a manager being empathetic to a working caregiver: “About a quarter of the surveyed workers—24%—reported challenges in balancing financial stress while working during the holiday season. One-fifth said balancing time constraints for holiday preparations is a challenge. For 19% of the respondents, family commitments are a challenge, while 17% referred to a lack of time for self care and 14% cited an increased workload”

  • Offers tips and strategies to help caregivers free up personal time and maintain their personal well-being during the holidays:

    “The holidays can be very stressful for caregivers,” said Crystal L. Walter, a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) at UT Physicians Center for Healthy Aging – Bellaire Station. “Time management becomes especially challenging – from hosting to taking loved ones out and about to preparing their homes for social gatherings.”

  • The author shares five adjustments caregivers can make to help them prepare for the holiday season:

    “I love Christmas, but it landed differently when I was a caregiver. My sister and I shared caregiving responsibilities for our mother, who was a gem and probably the impetus behind our deep love for the holiday. Still, experiencing the Christmas season as a caregiver was difficult. Mom had Alzheimer’s disease, and though life went on, we were also mourning her slow demise."

  • FCA is a very valuable resource for caregivers.

Did you know? (Read our blog)

Our blog brings you knowledge, personal and researched, to raise your awareness and empathy about working caregivers and caregiving.

The Care-gifters: Giving the Gift of Care (Blog 12/17/24)

Typically when we think of holidays and special events like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, etc, there is usually a flurry of celebrations accompanied with gift giving. Fortunately, there are many reminders given to us long in advance (seems like weeks and months nowadays!). These include calendar alerts, invites, social media posts, mail, retail store decorations and endless advertising so we can prepare to find and purchase that special gift for that occasion. It can get overwhelming and some people are happy that these events only occur every so often.   

People and Companies In the spotlight:

Our podcast puts a spotlight on guests who are making a significant difference in the working caregiver space.

Episode 8: Amy Goyer

In this episode, we welcome Amy Goyer, a nationally renowned caregiving advocate, author, and consultant. Amy shares her journey from music therapy to becoming a voice for caregivers everywhere. We’ll explore the invisible challenges working caregivers face and how employers can create meaningful change. 

Tune in to hear Amy’s insights on advocacy, the power of storytelling, and how employers can foster flexibility and support for working caregivers. This is a conversation filled with wisdom, humor, and actionable advice that you won’t want to miss!

Stories From Real Working Caregivers:

Actual working caregivers share their stories.

Laurette Foggini is is an Elder Care Professional and Consultant, a Long-Distance Caregiver, an Aging and Self-Care Enthusiast, as well as an Author focusing on Caring and Caregiving. She possess a deep understanding of the challenges, costs, and strategies required for caregiving success. Additionally, she is an author of three children's books centered around the theme of caregiving. She brings 18 years of professional and personal caregiving expertise to her work guiding more than 500 families through the complexities of aging, dementia care, and end-of life support. Her expertise includes dementia care, end-of-life support, and collaboration with professionals across the care continuum. Her experiences living in Europe and Asia shape her inclusive and empathetic approach, while her endless energy shines through her work with The Hummingbird Project, where she designs activities to bring joy and purpose to aging adults. Based in San Francisco, Laurette blends her professional passion with a love for hiking, founding the women-led adventure club Adventure Gals SF, and sharing stories through her social media. You can learn more about her on her website. 

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“(As a long distance caregiver) It's very hard to have a job where you can be… in another place, unless you're fully remote. So, that's an obvious challenge. But I think one of the bigger challenges is making sure you have someone local. Because as much time as you want to spend there, you can't spend your whole time there. So, having someone local who you trust, who can do that day to day.”  

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“I think before @#%! hit the fan… it’s making sure you know where everything is. Where is the will? Is there a power of attorney? Where are the bank accounts? Start as much as possible, as your parent will allow it, taking over bill pay because that is an incredible education on where everything is and what you need to do afterwards.”

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“I think you need to share with your boss what's going on early. Having the conversation with your boss upfront saying, this is my situation right now. How can we work together so that I can still get back or get to the caregiving part without having it interfere with my work? …Your boss is probably going to have (a caregiver role), if they're not doing it now, they're going to have to do it. There's no shame in saying, I have to step in, and this is really important to me. And I'm going to make sure it doesn't impact my job more than it has to”

Recommended media content:

We explore and share with you diverse media illuminating the dynamics and narratives within the care economy - from insightful podcasts to thought-provoking books and engaging videos.

PODCAST

Daughterhood The Podcast is a monthly podcast hosted by Rosanne Corcoran, who's journey into caregiving began with a dementia diagnosis of her fiercely independent mother, opening the door to a 12-year journey into sandwich caregiving. She brings her authentic voice to each conversation and discusses challenges caregivers face with experts in all fields. Here are two episodes focused on getting a little more support during the holidays that you can check out:

 Grief and the Holidays with Naila Francis. Naila Francis is a writer, grief coach, death midwife, ordained interfaith minister and creator of This Hallowed Wilderness which provides compassionate presence and holistic support for the journey of grief, loss and dying.

Navigating the Holidays with Your Care Partner with Carol Bradley Bursack. Carol is an author, columnist, and consultant Carol Bradley Bursack spent over two decades caring for a neighbor and six elderly family members. As a result of this experience, she wrote Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories, a portable support group for caregivers.

VIDEOS

Amy Goyer on the TODAY Show. June 2, 2022

AAARP’s caregiving expert Amy Goyer joins the 3rd Hour of TODAY to walk through navigating the system and how to take care of yourself while providing primary care to elderly family members. Goyer shares advice for new caregivers, tips for planning a budget and best ways to manage stress.

BOOKS

Amy Goyer is a tremendous caregiver advocate. She is a well known influencer in the caregiver space and throughout this newsletter—this week’s podcast episode, articles, video, and now her book in collaboration with AARP!

A staggering 42 million Americans, one in four adults, face the challenges of caring for an adult friend or relative. Although caregiving can be a richly rewarding and joyful experience, the role comes with enormous responsibilities and pressures. AARP's gentle guide provides practical resources and tips that are easy to find when you need them, whether you're caregiving day to day, planning for future needs, or in the middle of a crisis. Equally important, this book helps you care for the caregiver, you, before, during, and after caregiving.

Author Amy Goyer, an expert in aging and families, offers insight, inspiration, and poignant stories and experiences of caregivers, including her own as a live-in caregiver for her parents.

This book is a companion to the PBS documentary Caring for Mom and Dad (May 2015) and Sally Hurme's ABA/AARP Checklist for Family Caregivers: A Guide to Making It Manageable.

With gratitude, we share a book review:

We want to thank Brian O’Sullivan who took the time to read our book and provide a thoughtful review! Note: Brian is an awesome human, friend, caregiver advocate and cancer warrior. Please follow him on Linkedin!

As a Stage 4 Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma survivor/Warrior, I have learned how important it is to have someone to help care for me and other patients. I was cancer naive my whole life until I heard those 3 words that changed my life forever “You have cancer”, now I’ve dedicated my life to working with others whose lives have been affected by one form of cancer or another, including caretakers. It truly takes an amazing person to care for someone else. It’s not a job, it’s a way of life.

Reading this book truly showed me more and more about what my own caretaker goes through, I’m forever grateful. The authors are extremely knowledgeable and write in a way, that anyone can understand, so thank you again.

Order your copy of Working Caregivers-The Invisible Employees book here. If you want to order a quantity of books for your leadership team and employees, contact us directly about discount pricing.

Order Working Caregivers-The Invisible Employees Book here

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