In the first article of its new Spotlight series, Social Innovations in Caregiving, the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) details the hardships the COVID-19 crisis magnified for millions of working caregivers struggling with the demanding responsibilities of working and caring for a loved one.
WASHINGTON (PRWEB)
September 29, 2021
Just released, Lessons from the Workforce: Caregiving During COVID-19, focuses on the challenges and supports encountered during the pandemic by working caregivers who provide unpaid care to a family member or friend with a chronic, serious, or disabling health condition. Noting that there are 23 million working caregivers in the U.S., writer Peg Rosen investigates the workplace experiences during Covid of some of those unpaid caregivers and explores the gaps between what family caregivers say they need and what employers are providing.
A timely examination of this critical issue, the article provides a first-hand look into the life of one caregiver, cancer researcher and Fortune 500 employee Shivapriya Ramaswamy, who was tasked with working and caring for loved ones during the pandemic. Her story illustrates many of the issues that stand between caregivers and the workplace support they need: the mismatch between what benefits employers offer and what caregivers need; the communication and confidence gap between human resources and employees; work-life-friendly offerings that are unusable without a workplace culture shift; and the fact that Americans too often must rely on employers to provide social safety nets that are a matter of public policy in other wealthy economies.
“The pandemic has exposed the reality that working Americans must too often choose between caring for loved ones and holding onto their jobs. Smart employers are recognizing the needs of whole people, inside and outside of the workplace. Those who ignore the truths about work-life integration exposed by COVID-19 do so at their own peril,” says Grace Whiting, president, and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving.
Whiting underscores what the article notes: that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of unpaid caregiving on work life balance and job security had already been observed. Referencing a 2016 report, Families Caring for an Aging America, the article outlines how the demands of unpaid caregiving can directly jeopardize job security, personal retirement savings, and eventually Social Security benefits. A similar study, published in 2011, highlights the fact that individuals over 50 who exit the workforce to provide care lose an average of $304,000 in wages and benefits over their lifetime. Other evidence cited suggests that women specifically, who are more likely than men to stop working as a result of caregiving, are at substantially more risk of living in poverty during old age as a result of becoming caregivers.
In offering potential solutions on how employers can close the gap between what type of support is offered and what caregivers truly need, NAC advances recommendations for workplace policies and practices that employers can provide to caregivers, as well as public policy strategies to reinforce them — including flextime, compressed work weeks and redefined paid leave criteria among others.
Lessons From the Workplace: Caregiving During COVID-19 published by the National Alliance for Caregiving, was written by Peg Rosen, a veteran journalist known for making health-related topics accessible and relatable for lay readers. For additional information on potential workplace improvements for working family caregivers visit http://www.caregiving.org.
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About NAC
NAC’s mission is to build partnerships in research, advocacy, and innovation to make life better for family caregivers. Our work aims to support a society which values, supports, and empowers family caregivers to thrive at home, work, and life. As a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., we represent a coalition of more than 60 non-profit, corporate, and academic organizations; nearly 40 family support researchers with expertise in pediatric to adult care to geriatric care; and more than 50 advocates who work on national, state and local platforms to support caregivers across the United States. In addition to our national work, NAC leads and participates in a number of global meetings on caregiving and long-term care, working closely with peer organizations in countries such as Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, India and Nepal, Ireland, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.
Learn more about our work at http://www.caregiving.org
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