Some Firms Offer Help as More Employees Juggle Work, Care for Aging Parent




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Some Firms Offer Help as More Employees Juggle Work, Care for Aging Parent

By Stephanie Armour, USA Today

June 26, 2007

Sheree Anderson of Sioux Falls , S.D. , calls her mother, Virginia Harvey, her best friend. She considers it a labor of love to care for her in her home now that her mom is 87 and prefers not to live on her own.

But for Anderson , the need to balance her work demands with her role as a caregiver poses a persistent challenge. When she goes on business trips, she has her sister drive several hours to stay with Virginia . She also structures her work hours around the need to run errands for her mother or take her to the doctor.

"From time to time, it causes stress," says Anderson, 51, a self-employed educational and military consultant. "It's hard to have to always be there to cook the meals and give her medicine. I'm tied to a routine, and I try to work in-between."

For both employees and the self-employed, shouldering the burden of caring for an elderly parent while also meeting job demands can be a Herculean task. The nation includes an estimated 34 million unpaid caregivers for adults, typically older relatives, according to a study released this week by AARP. Nearly 60% of male caregivers work full time, as do 41% of female caregivers, according to the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP.

But as the ranks of employed caregivers swell, a small but growing number of employers are beginning to establish novel programs to provide help and scheduling flexibility. Twenty-six percent of companies offer an elder care referral service, which helps employees connect with service providers or other services, according to a 2006 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management of small, midsize and large companies. Five percent provide emergency elder care help (such as contracting with a firm that has nurses or other providers who can help care for an elderly relative), and 3% subsidize the cost of elder care.

Programs for federal employees vary by agency, but some provide telecommuting, caregiver fairs and lunch-and-learn events on elder caregiving issues.

Still, attention to the issue isn't meeting employee needs, says Randall Abbott, a consultant at Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a benefits consulting firm.

"Employers are doing incrementally more but not as much as you'd expect, given the changing demographics," Abbott says. "I continue to be amazed there is not more attention paid to this. (The caregiving) population is huge, and it's an enormous drain on productivity."

Employees who lack access to programs or flexible work schedules typically must use vacation time or sick days or limit their caregiving to weekends, notes Cali Williams Yost, author of Work+Life: Finding the Fit That's Right For You.

They can take unpaid time off to care for an aging parent under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. That time off can be taken in segments, such as a few hours to take a parent to the doctor.

"There are also times where employees have no choice (but to quit)," to move closer to their elderly relative, Yost says.

But some employers are taking action:

• IBM offers an online course that covers caregiving. One-on-one counseling is offered via phone to help employees find caregivers and nursing homes, on-site classes for employee caregivers, webcasts, online lectures and moderated chats. A 2004 internal survey found that 36% of IBM employees are affected by elder care issues, up from 9% in 1986.

"These programs are important because it's a retention issue, but it's also to motivate talent," says Maria Ferris, IBM's director of global workforce diversity. "To the degree employees are worried about an elderly parent, they're not productive."

• Ernst & Young provides consultations to help employees learn about available resources, from assisted living to nursing homes. The service also addresses the emotional and psychological aspects of being both a caregiver and an employee.

The accounting giant also provides backup emergency adult care services, whereby a service provider will visit an employee's or relative's home to help provide care. Employees are allowed 12 days each year for each dependent, and the cost is subsidized.

There are also seminars on elder care issues and, in some locations, caregiver discussion groups in which employees can share experiences. In addition, the company offers some flexible-scheduling options to help with work and elder care demands.

• Xerox provides elder care consultations and referrals that help employees find caregiving services. The consultants help with such issues as finding transportation for elderly parents, meal services and Medicare. Xerox also has a program to help deal with the pressures of juggling work and family duties.

Demand for such services is growing. Bright Horizons, a company that offers a network of in-home providers, says it's seen a rise in employers interested in backup emergency elder care programs. The company, which launched the service less than a year ago, has had about 75 major employers sign up.

"They're trying to help employees," says Dave Lissy of Bright Horizons, based in Watertown , Mass. "(The service) builds loyalty to the employer and helps employees be more productive at work."

But for many employees, especially those also caring for children, the need to help an elderly parent can impose an emotional strain for which referral services are hardly enough, says Richard Chaifetz, CEO of ComPsych, an employee-assistance provider.

"The psychological drain can be enormous," Chaifetz says. "It results in more absenteeism, distraction and lost productivity for employers. We're seeing this grow dramatically."

For some employees with aging parents, employer services have been a relief and an invaluable help. Rosemary Ray, 42, of Cary , N.C. , had been coping with her mother, who had Alzheimer's and died in December at age 86. Her father, 93, lives in Texas .

Ray was able to use an internal website that her company provided to learn more about the issue and to speak with a specialist about how best to handle problems, such as her mother's forgetfulness.

"I was able to read about it and talk to someone," says Ray, an IBM business analyst. "I could see I am not the only one dealing with this. Peace of mind helped a lot. It made me feel better talking to a professional in this field."