This is part 3 of 5 of the series called Corporate America and Caregiving. This part is about options that organizations have for helping their employees. If you missed the previous articles, here is a brief summary; part one discusses the overall impact of caregiving on your business; caregiving impacts corporate earnings through its impact on the worker’s job performance, absenteeism, loss productivity, time lost from work, inability to stay on the job, higher healthcare cost due to stress, higher cost of recruitment, retention, training and supervisory challenges. Part two discusses how corporations can boost profits by using an effective elder care work place program. You can read them here.
An employer has three options for helping employees.
Employers do not need to spend a lot of time and money to begin providing meaningful support to employees who are dealing with caregiving issues. An employer’s options for helping falls into three categories; policies, benefits and services.
What employers can do for their employees with elder care needs.
Flexible work schedules, options for leave and reduced work hours are some policies worth considering but the most impactful policy to this subject is management training in work/life issues. A study appearing in the academy of management journal compared work performance among those caring for the elderly to those caring for a child. Across the board, caregivers of the elderly reported lower work performance, lower physical wellbeing and lower level of satisfaction. In this study, it reflected that work and performance were most negatively affected when caregivers felt they could not share their concerns with coworkers and supervisors. Not surprisingly employees reported more problems and diminished performance in work places where they felt there was an obligation to sacrifice time needed to attend to caregiving or family responsibilities. It is crucial that supervisors receive training on work life issues so that employees can be well supported. This in turn will lead to lower rates of turn over and stress as well as improved health and wellness for employees.
Benefits such as employee assistance programs, effective elder care work place programs, crisis intervention, stress management and dependent care tax credit are among the benefits that employers could explore. Services such as education on caregiving, individual and family long term care planning, resources on caregiving and community involvement are a few services worth considering.
Is it worth having an effective caregiving and eldercare program?
The answer is a DEFINITE YES. Progressive employers listen to the research, see the potential savings, and consider the investment into their corporations. For a free consultation on how to invest in your employees and boost profits through an effective elder care work place program please email me at Stella@StellaNSONG.com or call 1-833-77-AGING or 833-772-4464.
