Tim works hard, wants the business to succeed, and is an all-around excellent employee. But lately he’s been distracted, tired, and unavailable to do anything extra.
When you touch base with him, you learn he’s supporting an elderly parent through cancer treatments. He’s joined the growing ranks of employees trying to juggle the caregiving role and employee responsibilities. You want to help, but how?
The following strategies for supporting caregivers at work can have a positive impact on both your employees and your organization as a whole.
#1 Have and promote caregiver policies and resources
An estimated 53 million Americans age 18 or older giving care to one or more persons who need help due to aging, illness and/or disability, according to the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers (RCI). Creating a caregiver-friendly environment only makes sense. Caregiver-friendly policies are important, but ensuring that people on your team know about them is important, too! Supporting caregivers at work must be both a policy and a practice.
Have your people management team demonstrate your organization’s intentions by:
- Ensuring all employees are aware of the resources available to them
- Sharing information about the Family Medical Leave Act and other caregiving leaves Outlining the availability of counseling (for emotional well-being and financial success)
- Connecting employees with local resources regarding elder care, childcare, and other caregiving needs.
#2 Make it a cultural thing
“Caregiving policies alone do not suffice,” says Dr. Zachary White, a communications professor at Queens University of Charlotte with a focus on caregiving in the workplace. “Creating and fostering a supportive culture for working caregivers also means minimizing the stigma that is often associated with caregiving.”
Supporting caregivers at work is not about having the perfect solution, White says. “Employers don’t have to have all the answers—but acknowledging and seeking to address employee-caregiver complications can be a first significant act of care.”
It’s also important to consider the general work-life balance culture of your organization as a whole. If you’re thinking about trying to improve the work-life balance for caregivers, remember that this effort happens within the context of your existing culture.
#3 Communicate with caregivers
The Society for Human Resource Management recommends employers “have meaningful conversations” with caregiving employees. Managers can play an essential role in helping staff with work-life balance. In a one-on-one with employees try to learn more about how they feel about workloads, management, resources, professional development opportunities, and the culture.
By building trusting relationships where employees feel that they can share challenges, you open the door to more open communication about the need for greater flexibility, shifting responsibilities, or other types of help your organization can offer.
#4 Individualize caregiver support
Even if two people in your office are both caring for an elderly parent with dementia, their situations may be vastly different. Trying to standardize how you manage caregivers at work runs counter to the need for flexibility. As Aon health solutions specialist Joana Coelho states, “Caregivers in the workforce all come from different generations and cultures and have different incomes… They’re taking care of all kinds of other people, too. Employers need to have a broad mindset in their caregiver policies to consider new and different kinds of families.”
In one study, 22% of respondents felt that they lost out on promotions or raises because they took leave. Women were more likely to feel this was true (31% compared to 11% among men), but also worry more about requesting or taking leave (41% compared to 21% among men). The research was more focused on parental leave, yet the gender discrepancy still illustrates the need to recognize the diversity of experiences when it comes to caregiving and employee wellness.
#5 Educate supervisors
Your organization may have procedures in place to accommodate and support caregivers in the workplace, but that only helps if individual supervisors know and understand the policies. If a manager lacks empathy and can’t act as an ally for the worker, that caregiving individual may remain silent about their needs even as their work suffers. This disconnect could undermine employee engagement and retention efforts.
One component of this education should be measuring what matters. For example, if employers are only recognizing and rewarding hours spent in the office (rather than actual productivity or efficiency) that could work against the multi-tasking caregiver.
#6 Support a caregiver microculture
Create an outlet for caregivers in your workplace and connect them to a possible support network of others facing the same challenges. This might be something HR spearheads by offering lunch-and-learn sessions that focus on topics relevant to the caregiver. Or you might set up a Slack channel or other portal in your internal infrastructure for caregivers in your office to chat, ask questions, and seek support. This group will benefit, but you can also see the advantages of microcultures at work.
#7 Encourage self-care
Another way to support caregivers in the workplace? Provide opportunities to prioritize self-care. Whether you have a formal employee wellness Offering yoga during lunch in the office, and encouraging employees to take the time away from their desks to take part, could benefit everyone. Other strategies you might try to support self-care for employees include:
- Give wellness stipends
- Sponsors mindfulness programs
- Offer time management learning opportunities
- Prioritize mentoring
- Have walking meetings
- Discourage eating meals at one’s desk
- Set communication time boundaries
- Practice gratitude
Supporting caregivers at work can transform your business environment. These strategies can help you shape your culture to give employees the tools they need to better balance their work responsibilities and caring role.
Want to find out which strategy might best suit your employees? Ask them! Learn how we can help.
