Your Second Issue Of Working Caregivers-The Invisible Employees Newsletter

by Selma Archer and Zack Demopoulos of ieadvocates

Author

ieadvocates
September 24, 2024

Working Caregivers-The Invisible Employees Newsletter

Brought to you by ieadvocates (invisible employee advocates)

Welcome and how is your day going?

Thank you for being here! Our newsletter is written to shed light on employees who juggle professional responsibilities with the demanding role of caring for family members. This employee segment, although large in numbers, has remained silent and hidden in the workplace. We need to help them be more visible and supported.

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.

Table of Contents

In the news:

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

New report takes a closer look at the impacts of caregiving on workers

This article shares two important findings about sandwich generation employees (caring for both a child and an adult) that employers need to consider:

  • One in four employees (24%) are more likely to consider leaving their current job due to the strain of their responsibilities.

  • 22% of “sandwich generation” caregivers have left a job in the past due to caregiving pressures.

This has a significant negative financial impact especially on women. When asked, less than half of employees reported hearing about benefits once or less a year, benefits that could help with these caregiving pressures. There are ways to proactively support working caregivers.  The Business Journals/Biz Women September 23, 2024

Parents with access to paid sick leave spend more time caring for children, new study finds

In July the National Bureau of Economic Research published a working paper that studied the impact of state mandates requiring paid sick leave for employees to take care of themselves as well as for a family member. The results are very encouraging in those particular states. Two results in particular

  • Men and women spent an average of 3.8 additional minutes on “primary childcare” each day, representing an increase of 4.9%.

  • While HR leaders may worry that offering paid sick leave may become costly or burdensome, the research doesn’t bear this out.

Very encouraging is that separate research has documented similar results for employees who need to care for older parents providing them with more time to care for them.. HR Brew September 6, 2024

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.

Selma’s Story: Becoming a Caregiver Can Be a Subtle Process (Blog 9/24/24)

My caregiver journey did not begin with a bang. My mom didn’t take a fall, or suffer a heart attack. There were no screaming sirens or vehicles rushing to the nearest ER. To the contrary, my status as a caregiver was a very gradual process. There is not a point in time that I can claim as the exact moment that I became a caregiver. It occurred over a number of years. That being the case, you might think that I was more prepared. Unlike someone who’s loved one has an accident and they are drafted into caregiving on the spot, you might suspect that I had time and foresight to prepare emotionally and physically for the journey. I did not.

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 2: Our guest Sarah Johal is the founder of CareSprint, a nonprofit organization focused on transforming workforce systems to better support working caregivers. In this episode, she shares how her organization is helping employers create a more inclusive, supportive environment for caregivers and emphasizes the need for better data, collaboration, and action from employers and business leaders. We get into thought-provoking ideas on how workplaces can gain a competitive edge by centering care for their employees, ultimately boosting productivity, retention, and loyalty.

Stories From real working caregivers:

Actual working caregivers share their stories.

Suzanne Asaff Blankenship earned her badge in eldercare the hard way – by doing it. She is in her third decade of caring for and sharing the care for her elders. During this time, Suzanne has found advocacy and elder-centric service a rare commodity for our seniors. Her guidance helps family members navigate more easily through the eldercare journey and advocate effectively for their elders. Suzanne brings some sanity to an otherwise randomly arriving responsibility, easing the load with her tongue-in-cheek humor. She is the author of the award-winning book How To Take Care of Old People Without Losing Your Marbles. Simply put, Suzanne makes eldercare easier. She was also highlighted in an EBN article 4/22 that you can find here . 

Our interview with Suzanne: 

❝

I would say the part that drained me the most was all of the ancillary phone calls and follow-ups that take a little bit of time, but really a little bit of time you don't have. So, when you're on the phone with Medicare, you don't just pick up the phone and say, oh, I have a quick question. You're on the phone with Medicare for an hour before you get to somebody.

❝

What I would say to anybody in the C-suite or HR or anyone in charge of making policy for employees is that … you want (your employees) to be successful. And the way you want them to be successful is to provide them with tools. Whether that's the ability to use a computer or have an office or travel to meetings or whatever it is, you want them to be successful…. And I would say that whether or not you have ever been down (the caregiver journey) road, in order for your employee to be successful, you need to give them the tools that they need to get through this part of their lives. And without that tool, your company is going be hit on the bottom line just like if you didn't provide them with their other tools.

 You're going to be providing them with tools no matter what. This is one. You can't forget it.

Suzanne Blankenship

Recommended media content:

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

PODCASTS

The Empathy Edge Podcast with Maria Ross

The Empathy Edge Podcast: Host Maria Ross, speaker, author, strategist, and empathy advocate, shares keen insights and inspiring interviews that prove empathy and compassion are the new paths to market-winning performance. Leveraging both inspiring stories and hard data, Ross connects empathetic leadership, cultures and brands to innovation, engagement, and bottom-line results. You’ll walk away with actionable strategies to amplify your impact, and learn how compassionate business tactics can transform your organization from the inside out. The Empathy Edge podcast provides a quick dose of motivation, wisdom, and practical actions that executive leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers can use right now

VIDEOS

How Family Caregiving Impacts Employment

How Family Caregiving Impacts Employment  This is an excellent collection of 10 real life working caregivers sharing their challenges. This is a project from The Wisconsin Board For People With Developmental Disabilities.

BOOKS

“How To Take Care Of Old People Without Losing Your Marbles”

How To Take Care of Old People Without Losing Your Marbles by Suzanne Blankenship helps you navigate the murky waters of eldercare with practical advice, organization and humor. The responsibility of taking care of our parents and family elders is often challenging, frustrating, and even overwhelming. We already have a full plate of life’s responsibilities before we add eldercare. Suzanne has been there and has developed a practical approach to navigating those uncharted waters – she uses organization and humor. And she doesn't take long to get to the point. You don't have time to waste on textbook-sized tomes.

With gratitude, we share a book review:

We want to thank Louise@Myfolks who took the time to read our book and provide a thoughtful review!

5.0 out of 5 stars: To misquote a song “telling my life with their words”

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

If someone forwarded you this newsletter, then you can subscribe below: