Caregiving vs Profession. What can employers do?
As we enter our careers most of us are faced with caregiving responsibilities towards our children. Society has brought in mechanisms and alternatives to enable parents especially women to pursue their careers along with being caregivers. As the children fly out of the nest, the care giving responsibility shifts toward elders in the family. With growing number of elderly people and not enough facilities has led to many people having to give up their careers and care for their aging parents.
Women are more vulnerable to interruptions to their career goals for the sake of caregiving of their children, spouse, aging parents or children with disabilities. Businesses should bring about policies to accommodate the growing need and make the workplace more family friendly. The consideration of flexible work hours and work from home options will help keep the talent and maintain healthy relationships with the employees. 62% of women in Germany will switch jobs of the flexibility is not offered to them.
Countries like Japan and Germany are also facing the crisis of growing elderly population and not enough caretakers. Providing elder care benefits to employees like child care would ensure return of investment. Studies have shown that Childcare benefits have had positive returns for the company. A happy workforce is a healthy and productive workforce.
Some of the possible measure’s companies can choose to put in place are:
Know and understand the caregiver burden that most employees face and support them by providing:
- discounts for services
- flexibility in work hours
- job security
- foster an inclusive culture
Make it easy for people to maintain a work-life balance.
Work towards creating caring workspaces that promotes physical, mental and social wellbeing