Caregiving While Working Calls for Workplace Flexibility

Caregiving for an adult loved one can be stressful. Caregiving while holding down a job only increases that level of stress. And so not surprisingly, the delicate balance of working and caring for a loved one is taking a toll on Americans. Nearly 48 million people currently provide care to an adult family member in the U.S. and 61 percent of them work full or part time.

S&P Global partnered with AARP to explore workplace experiences among 1,200 employee caregivers and how employer-provided benefits and policies allow them to remain successful at work while providing care at home. Benefits in place like telework, paid time off, and hybrid work schedules help, but respondents were clear: Benefits are not available to all and can still fall short when it comes to managing the demands of work and home.

Two-thirds (67 percent) of family caregivers have difficulty balancing their jobs with caregiving duties. For many, this has resulted in disruptions to their work, including taking a leave of absence (32 percent), shifting from full- to part-time work or reducing hours (27 percent), and turning down a promotion (16 percent).

Caregiving policies help attract talent

In a companion study, S&P Global/AARP surveyed 505 human resources professionals, of which nearly 87 percent agree that caregiving policies help attract talent. They see a connection between supporting caregivers and helping their company's bottom line by reducing employee turnover (89 percent), indirect costs such as time to train new employees (80 percent), and employee health care costs (76 percent).

But enacting caregiving policies takes considerable knowledge on what benefits may entail — including such factors as cost, avoiding policy abuse, having sufficient capacity to support flexible schedules, and others.

A mishmash of policies

Adding to the mix of issues is a lack of formal workplace policies aimed at helping caregivers. When HR respondents were asked which caregiver-focused benefits were available, the most common response was paid leave not designated specifically for caregiving. Similarly, another option cited is the ability to repurpose sick leave; as with vacation leave, however, using sick time for caregiving can makes it harder for caregivers to care for themselves. A personalized plan tailored to each caregiver’s situation, meanwhile, can be an option, although that often means navigating a patchwork of HR policies.

Flexible schedules in demand

Against that backdrop, a more valued benefit appears to be on the rise: more access to flexible work hours. The research found that 45 percent of working caregivers have access to a flexible work schedule, with 80 percent using it and 84 percent reporting it to be very helpful. Similarly, 72 percent report using telework as an option and 84 percent rate it highly.

Only a quarter of working caregivers said they were offered paid leave designated for adult caregiving, but it’s a popular benefit — 67 percent of them took advantage of it, and 79 percent who used it rated it as very helpful. Among those with access to unpaid family leave, nearly 60 percent opted to take it.

Are caregiver benefits on the rise? Perhaps not fast enough, but the combined surveys show that progress is underway. If anything, the positive shift toward flexible work schedules suggests that employees and employers are having conversations about caregiving needs.

Methodology

S&P Global and AARP Research conducted two online surveys. One conducted in September and October 2023 involved 1,200 full- and part-time employees who work at U.S. companies with 1,000 or more employees and who provide more than six hours of unpaid care a week to another adult. The other included 505 HR professionals at U.S. companies with 1,000 or more employees, conducted in February and March 2024.

For more information, please contact Alessandra Raimondi at araimondi@aarp.org. For media inquiries, contact External Relations at media@aarp.org.