How businesses are stepping up to help employee caregivers
Who is caring for the aging among us? Workers. As in people who have full-time jobs are at the same time caregivers to parents, other older relatives or friends.
“One in five full-time workers is a caregiver. Across sectors, in every state, at every level of employment, caregiver status is impacting the health of individuals and the bottom line of companies,” Karen Kavanaugh, chief of strategic initiatives at Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, said. “Sixty-percent of caregivers experience work disruption and a third have had to leave a job because of their caregiving responsibilities. Caregiving is not just an issue of public health — it is a significant economic challenge for employer and employee alike.”
Elder care, as it’s known, is slowly being discussed at the executive level, with companies beginning to offer benefits specifically to address this need. To start with, it is mostly larger firms that are doing so.
In the North Bay this includes Amy’s Kitchen, Ultragenyx and Medtronic.
These benefits go beyond what state and federal law requires.
While lawmakers are continually tweaking the California Family Rights Act that was first passed in 1993, what individual employers are doing is more comprehensive and strategically designed to assist their people.
One thing that may help more workers in California is the passage this past legislative session of Senate Bill 616 that expands the minimum paid sick days from three to five starting Jan. 1. This time off may be used when a caregiver, or the caregiver’s recipient, is ill or has medical appointments.
Corporate compassion
Many caregivers who aren’t getting paid will say it is a time commitment, financial strain and emotional roller coaster. That is why companies are coming to the rescue with a variety of tools to help ease the burden.
“(Elder care) has definitely become more of a pressing concern and stressor for employees,” Goretti Hamlin, chief people officer, for Petaluma-based Amy’s Kitchen said.
Two main ways Amy’s is addressing the issue are by offering flexible schedules and paying for 16 visits through Lyra, an employer-sponsored benefits company that connects employees, spouses and their dependents to mental and emotional health care, according to the company.
Hamlin explained the Burglingame-based vendor offers a variety of services including legal and financial support, dependent or elder care resources, and the ability to connect workers with other partners.
“Fundamentally, our ways of working have changed in the last four years. We are dealing with stressors that we weren’t seeing in the workplace,” Hamlin told the Journal. “I think COVID erased the line between home and work. While we always talked about bringing the whole person to work, it became completely different when people were working from home.”
People today are speaking out more about what they need for a work-life balance.
While many of Amy’s workers are physically at the company’s manufacturing facilities, they, too, are bringing forward “stressors that were not as common to bring forward in years past,” Hamlin said. One of them is elder care.
Amy’s recently contracted with Bright Horizons, which provides elder care solutions for employers.
Financial literacy and support are the focus of Amy’s contract with Bright Horizons. Hamlin said this allows employees to work confidentially to address financial needs related to supporting older family members and how to budget for future and immediate care.
Bank of America also uses Bright Horizons in its benefits package.
“An employee can arrange for in-home back up care through Bright Horizons’ network of professionally trained caregivers when their regular adult care arrangements are temporarily not available. This back up service is offered at significantly reduced rates with Bank of America subsidizing most of the cost,” according to spokeswoman Colleen Haggerty. “This benefit has provided more than 52,000 days of back-up care year to date for thousands of employees.”
Bank of America has recognized the need for elder care support for workers since it initiated a program in 2009, with enhancements being made since then.
While it’s not known how many North Bay employees have taken advantage of the benefit, Bank of America has hundreds of people working at its 27 financial centers in Sonoma, Napa, Marin and Solano counties.
The financial institution also offers:
Free and discounted elder care law support and document preparation services from attorneys on health care directives, power of attorney options and other legal matters.