Support for working carers and carer-friendly employers
In your organisation you are likely to have a number of employees who work for you but also care for a family member. They are ‘working-carers’ and they have an often-difficult job of balancing the two parts of their life.
They may be caring for an elderly parent, a disabled child or a partner. It may be a long-term care situation, perhaps due to dementia or disability; or a shorter-term caring role for someone who is recovering from an illness or an accident.
The scale of the issue
- In 2019 there were estimated to be 8.8 million carers in the UK. This means that 1 in 7 people in the UK are carers.
- It is anticipated that 3 in 5 people will be carers at some point during their life.
- Every year 2.1 million adults become carers; meaning that 6,000 people become carers every day.
- It is often assumed that it only affects women, but currently 42% of carers are men and 58% are women.
Let’s think about the impact of these statistics on your organisation:
| If 1:7 people are carers, how many carers do you have within your organisation? | Who are they? |
Why it’s important to support working carers
We all know that work can be challenging and stressful. Customers, stakeholders, managers, major deliverables all have to be satisfied.
Caring for a loved one can also be stressful. Often there are periods when things get out of balance, which can make it particularly challenging to meet the double demands of a job and caring for a loved one.
Every day, 600 carers find it too difficult to manage both paid employment and caring for a loved one. So, often reluctantly, they leave their jobs to care full time.
When this happens, it adversely affects both them and your business.
The cost to your business: Your staff are a valuable part of your business. Their skills, knowledge and relationships contribute to business success. Oxford Economics have calculated that it costs on average £30,000 to replace a member of staff. This figure includes
- Recruitment costs to replace them
- The cost of induction for a new member of staff
- The loss of productivity as they get up to speed which can take 6 months
There are other, less obvious costs too:
- Loss of productivity as others have to cover the workload during the vacancy
- Loss of productivity as others in the team help the new staff member
- Loss of momentum on projects
- Loss of knowledge and expertise that left with the employee
- Loss of the goodwill from well-developed and long-standing relationships
The cost to working carers: Leaving work to become a full-time carer impacts their earnings and pension; but it can also impact upon their health, their well-being and can lead to social isolation.
Retaining working carers makes sense for them and for your business.
Organisations can develop a positive approach to working carers. The environment and culture in an organisation can make a drastic difference to a working carer and in particular, whether they can continue to work and perform at the required levels. It also sends an important message to your staff about the kind of organisation you are.
How we can help?
Helping you develop a carer friendly approach
We can help you review where you are currently and help you enhance your approach to working carers, taking into account what is right for your organisation.
Working carer forums
We can help you develop and facilitate working carer forums and workshops. Bringing your working carers together can help to develop a support network at work.
Workshops for managers
We can support you with information workshops or training sessions for your managers to highlight the needs of working carers and to consider how they can support them.
Coaching support
Sometimes managers of carers or the carers themselves benefit from working with a coach to get clear on issues and then move forward. Sessions are tailored to suit each individual but generally, we offer:
- Managers: coaching to help them consider the issues and develop their approach, then implement changes to accommodate the working carer in their team. This might include consideration of working practices, their own management style, the team culture and the impact on the rest of the team.
- Working carers: coaching tailored to the individual needs of each working carer. Coaching will most likely cover their caring responsibilities and their work challenges; beliefs and attitudes that may be limiting, examining key issues and helping them to develop their resilience.
Next steps
To set up an initial, no-obligation, consultation or informal discussion please either email jackie@jackiewilks.co.uk or call me on 07984 131604.