Caregivers, the Work Place and the Cost to Your Business!

Worth Noting!

As the baby boom generation ages and moves into retirement years and becomes elderly, the workers that make business function so efficiently are going to have additional demands placed on them of becoming the primary caregiver for an aging parent or loved one.  With many boomers reaching retirement age they are ready to leave the workforce themselves.

Never before has this created such a problem as it is about to in our economic climate as there are not enough younger workers to replace those retiring.  This means less skilled labour force and less taxes being paid in to cover costs of those retiring.    

It’s an issue that businesses can no longer afford to ignore in their employee population.  Just as the demands of parenting can have a huge impact on the workplace, the personal needs of your employees to take care of their aging parents will have an impact on the office and the productivity of your business.

The brutal truth is that skilled, trained and mature employees are not easily replaced.   With the work force shrinking, it’s foolish to think that a solid hard working employee who does a good work for your business can easily be replaced with a young person right out of school. The costs of training along with the learning curve of a job alone will be substantially more than any costs of accommodating existing employees.  Moreover, you cannot just replace knowledge, relationships, market savvy and wisdom which many of the employees in this age bracket bring to your business.

The first step to ensuring smooth transitions and focus on business is to understand what your workforce is experiencing.  Many may already be in the sandwich generation which includes caring for aging loved ones and still have children in university.  If you can partner with them to make them successful at home, they will work at their optimum in the workplace.

Start with some seminars and brown bag lunches where people can come and share the demands they are going through as caregivers for elderly parents or loved ones.  Invite everyone to these lunches because there may be many in your business who know that is coming up for them and want to learn all they can about what is ahead.  By making an open discussion of elderly care issues part of the discussion at work, you are communicating that you want to help what your employees are facing.  Creating a balance between work and home life is essential to employee production – offering workshops, speakers and information that allows them to learn skills to take into their care giving duties will alleviate stress.

Not all employees who are caregivers will need accommodation all the time.  If their parent’s needs are not that demanding or they have professional caregivers or have found a good day program to assist it may be more of an emotional adjustment than a demand on the schedule.  By encouraging employees who may be entering into a time of being the primary caregiver for their parent to communicate this through meetings with the Human Resource department and to their boss as well will help the adjustment period.  

Understanding what your employees are going through will keep you ahead of work interruptions and assist you both in anticipating issues therefore allowing you time to adjust schedules accordingly ahead of time.   As part of the human experience we spend a lot of time with our co-workers and employers and they become part of our extended family… knowing that an employer cares about their workforce is essential to good relations between the two.   

Be sensitive and sensitive with your employees and you can truly become their partner in dealing with this tough part of their lives.  In doing so, they will feel that you support them and their loyalty to the company will skyrocket.  That loyalty will translate into better productivity and longevity in your workforce.  That stability translates into a more efficient organization which is a more profitable organization.  So in the long run, partnering with your caregivers in the workplace just makes good business sense.

For more information for solutions for caregiver see www.fulllifecentre.com