There are 26 million family caregivers in the workforce. They are in every organization. They are millennials with children and a sibling with Down’s syndrome. They are X gens caring for elderly parents or the young couple that wants to start a family and asking themselves where they should locate so they can thrive as caregivers and working professionals.
Family caregivers face numerous struggles including burnout, emotional health and mental health challenges. Many report a decline in physical health as well.
At work, family caregivers often struggle to perform at their best level because they are distracted by caregiving responsibilities, or they are simply exhausted.
For many family caregivers, those challenges often become so overwhelming they feel forced to make a decision they don’t want to make –they either cut back to part-time or quit work altogether.
About 6% of family caregivers quit their jobs and 5% retire early.
Do the math on that—it’s about 2.8 million quality employees leaving the workforce.
Organizations are paying a big price with this loss of talent. There are costs associated with turnover, absenteeism, presenteeism and a loss of productivity.
Family caregivers bring a wealth of talent to our organizations. They bring great leadership skills including empathy, compassion, patience and listening. We need family caregivers to not only remain in the workforce, but to thrive in the workforce.
We need to get our arms around this problem as it is already a major talent attraction and retention challenge.
We are in this together. Conquering the caregiving crisis starts with increasing awareness and a commitment to building cultures of care that better support family caregivers so they can remain where they want to be—as family members providing valuable support to their loved ones AND contributing, vital members of the 21st century workforce