Employee Caregivers Need More Support from Their Employers

Jake, a VP at a technology company, has noticed changes in the behavior of a high-performing employee on his team. Claudia is often arriving late to meetings and appears distracted. When he raises the subject, she breaks down in tears, revealing that she’s exhausted from caring for her mother who moved in after a stroke. Her mother’s needs are escalating, but Claudia and her husband can’t afford long-term care and haven’t found a qualified in-home caregiver. Distraught about her mother’s health and her declining work performance, Claudia decides she needs to leave her job to focus on her mother’s needs. Jake isn’t sure how he can help her.

Claudia’s story isn’t unique. Amid a full-blown caregiving crisis, a growing number of employees find themselves in highly stressful and unsustainable situations. As it becomes harder to secure affordable, quality child care and elder care, more employees are taking on the caregiver role themselves—often at the expense of their health, well-being, work performance, and their job. For many, this can look like chronic stress, sleep disruption, and early signs of burnout—especially when they don’t know what caregiver support is available through work.

Employee caregivers need more care themselves. And while employers have the opportunity and incentive to support the mental health and well-being of employee caregivers, their efforts are falling short, according to a 2023 research survey conducted by Arizent/Employee Benefit News on behalf of Calm. Practical caregiver resources and workplace caregiver benefits (from leave policies to mental health tools) can help employees stay healthy—and stay employed.

Caregiver Mental Health Support:
A Win-Win for Employees and Organizations

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The scope of the childcare and elder care crisis in the US for working caregivers

Widespread closures of caregiving facilities in the pandemic era, labor shortages, rising caregiving costs, and a rapidly growing elderly population are just some of the factors fueling the caregiving crisis. Current statistics show the scope of the problem:

• More than half of American families live in a “childcare desert,” an area where there’s either no licensed childcare providers for children under the age of five or there’s less than one slot in a licensed childcare center for every three children under age five. Forty-five percent of suburban communities and 56% of urban communities are childcare deserts.
• Nearly 18% of children (>1 in 6) are reported to have a developmental disability, a 38% increase in prevalence since 1997.  Families often need specialized caregiver resources to support both the child and the caregiver.
• Half of older American parents aren’t getting the help they need with daily activities. 

The crisis is projected to get even worse: 

• More than 70,000 childcare programs are expected to close now that federal funding under the American Rescue Plan has ended. If Congress fails to act to replace the funding, approximately 3.2 million children could lose access to child care.
• This year, US providers will face a shortage of about 450,000 home health aides, according to Mercer. That shortage can make it harder for employees to find reliable caregiving resources—even when they can afford them.
• Demand for elder care is expected to rise sharply as the number of Americans living with dementia is expected to more than double, from 6 million today to 14 million by 2050.  

Caregiving takes a toll on employee mental health and caregiver burnout risk

The caregiving crisis affects more employees than you might expect. More than one in five employees is caring for a child or adult with special needs due to a disability, illness, or aging, yet 8 in 10 employees (80%) consider themselves a caregiver in some form, according to the Arizent/EBN survey. The amount of time they spend providing care ranges from nearly 24 hours a week to more than 50 hours a week, the equivalent of more than a full-time job.

The responsibility of caregiving can cause severe mental strain, often because the caregiver feels trapped. More than half (51%) of those caring for parents say it’s one of the most stressful parts of their lives. Screenings showed that 30% of caregivers have moderately or severely elevated levels of anxiety, and 26% have moderately or severely elevated levels of stress. Anger, loneliness, guilt, cognitive overload, and lack of concentration are other common responses to taking on a caregiving role. These are also common warning signs where caregiver burnout prevention strategies (and timely support) can make a difference.

Employees need more mental health support from their employers and better workplace caregiver benefits

Caregivers indicate they’re not getting the support they need from their employers, with 62% of respondents to the Arizent/EBN survey grading their company’s support for caregiving a C or worse. Those caring for parents or partners gave employers the lowest grades. 

Fewer than 20% of employees said their company offers resources to support them in caregiving, regardless of who they’re caring for. And among those who said their employer offers mental health services, two-thirds of respondents said those services fail to meet their needs. When caregiver resources exist but employees can’t find them (or don’t feel safe using them), the result is often delayed care, escalating stress, and preventable turnover.

“If I could have any kind of support to make the caregiving I provide to others easier, I would like to have support for my mental health and well-being,” said one respondent, a millennial working full time in accounting and tax preparation. 

How to better support the mental health of employee caregivers

The first step to supporting your employee caregivers is bringing the problem into the open. Employees often keep their caregiving challenges to themselves out of fear they’ll be viewed as less committed to their job, which adds to their stress. To reduce the stigma and help employees feel safe sharing their caregiving challenges, begin to proactively address the subject. Discuss the caregiving crisis in meetings and ask leaders to share their own caregiving stories. Acknowledge the challenges employees face (especially those with lower incomes) and let them know you’re working to deliver solutions. Consider explicitly naming where employees can start (e.g., HR, the benefits portal, EAP, or a caregiver concierge/partner) so they know how to access support.

Here are five steps you can take to improve your mental health support for employee caregivers:

1. Collect data to understand your caregiver population

Tracking and measuring the caregiver challenge within your workforce is critical to understanding the specific issues your employees face across different locations, developing practical solutions that work for them, and building trust. This also helps you identify which caregiver resources employees actually need (child care, elder care, disability support, or all of the above).

• Add questions about caring/supporting family members to your employee surveys to gain insight about the number of caregivers in your workforce, their specific challenges, gaps in community caregiving programs or resources, and the support they need. Are they using the benefits and policies you have in place?
• If you have a caregiver employee resource group (ERG), talk with them to learn more about how you can support caregiver needs. 
• Report on what you’re learning and how your insights are informing decisions.

2. Reassess your benefits and policies based on your data analysis

With data and insights about employee caregiving, you can assess the effectiveness of your policies and benefits and take appropriate steps to modify them as needed. Look for gaps between what’s offered and what’s usable in real life (eligibility rules, time-off access, manager support, and awareness).

• Rather than expecting employees to use vacation hours to care for family, for example, assess whether or not you can implement paid family leave as a competitive differentiator in your benefits package. Only about 40% of organizations offer paid family leave.
• Explore community-based programs/resources that you can partner with to support your workers in different locations.

3. Educate and communicate consistently

You’ve likely implemented comprehensive employee communications strategies spanning multiple channels. Make sure you devote space in your communications to explain benefits and policies employee caregivers can take advantage of. Too often, these policies remain buried in employee handbooks or annual benefits plans guides that are not easy to find once open enrollment has ended. A simple “Where to start” section can reduce friction for employees already under pressure.

• Train managers to be aware of the policies and benefits that can help their team members who are caregivers. 
• If your organization already offers paid family leave, make sure your employees are aware of the policy and feel comfortable using it when needed.  
• Distribute accurate, current information about local resources to help employee caregivers. Consider a single, easy-to-find hub for caregiving resources.
• Educate employees about Medicare and Medicaid coverage for care recipients, and other long-term care services.
• Share what you’ve learned from the data and the steps you’re taking to address it.

4. Foster empathy in your organization

Most respondents of the Arizent/EBN survey said they could use a support network to help in areas such as mental and emotional health. Peer support can also reduce isolation—one of the most common (and least visible) caregiver stressors.

• If your organization supports ERGs and doesn’t have one for caregivers, help establish it.
• Train managers on empathy. To encourage employees to speak up, train managers to establish an environment of psychological safety and empathy. One idea is forming empathy circles to allow employees to share challenges and learn coping skills. (Ogilvy improved workforce well-being with a Mindful Manager program delivered with Calm.)

5. Offer mental health support to help employee caregivers manage stress, anxiety, and sleep challenges

Some employee caregivers may need clinical therapy, but it’s also important to offer tools that they can use anytime, anywhere to relieve stress, anxiousness, loneliness, and other emotions that can escalate into more serious mental and physical health conditions. This is a practical pillar of caregiver burnout prevention—especially when paired with clear caregiving resources and supportive workplace caregiver benefits.

• Employees can use tools like Calm to defuse panic attacks in the moment, regain balance when feeling overwhelmed, or unwind and fall asleep faster after a hard day. Calm offers content under 10 minutes specifically focused on the needs of caregivers.
• In Calm Health, employees can find evidence-based support developed specifically for caregivers by clinical psychologists. Support for Mothers & Caregivers offers expert-backed tools to help caregivers troubleshoot some of parenting’s most pressing challenges.
• Employee caregivers also can extend these tools to eligible family members and children.
• Look for tools that offer a wide range of content developed specifically for diverse populations, including neurodivergent, LGBTQ+, Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous communities.

Caregivers who feel supported by their company are much less likely to change jobs. By contrast, those who feel unsupported are much more likely to be looking for a new job with better benefits. Offering empathy, a supportive community, policies developed with caregivers in mind, and mental health tools can improve the well-being and productivity of employees and help you retain high performers like Claudia.