Roundtable #14: Caregivers in the Workplace | Business Case and Best Practices
Roundtable #14: Caregivers in the Workplace | Business Case and Best Practices
In March, the Business Collaborative for Brain Health convened with experts to discuss caregivers in the workplace and explore the business case for employers to support employees with caregiving responsibilities.
Featured speakers for this roundtable included:
Charna Martini, Assistant Vice President, Health Transformation at AON
Eileen J. Tell, MPH, Principal and CEO of ET Consulting, LLC
Karen Kavanaugh, Working While Caring, Tufts Medical Center, Program on Health, Work and Productivity
Key Takeaways
The Prevalence & Impact of Caregivers in the Workplace
Across the 53 million family caregivers (as of 2020), 61% are also employed in the workforce, highlighting the dual roles many individuals navigate.
Caregivers are often in their mid-40s, a period typically associated with peak professional engagement.
23% of Americans say caregiving has made their own health worse up from 17% in 2015.
A majority of individuals balancing work and caregiving want to do both but report needing more support to stay in the workforce.
Most Impactful Forms of Employer Support
Help finding adequate care and provider referrals is regarded by caregivers as the most valuable form of support their employer can provide, followed closely by paid leave and flexible work options.
Employers must understand the needs of their unique workforce before designing caregiver support programs and establish an internal feedback process early on to understand and track the impact of provided support.
Other strategies for employers include benefits expansion, flexible work hours, paid leave, promoting safe spaces for caregiving employers through support groups and management training.
Potential ROI for Employers who Invest in Caregiver Support
Although research on employer return on investment (ROI) for caregiving support is still emerging, a recent study from Harvard Business School’s Project on Managing the Future of Work highlights a compelling case: Employers who offered caregiver benefits through a care concierge service—which connects caregivers to planning, administrative and support services—saw reduced absenteeism by up to 50% and achieved a ROI of up to 72%.
There are only four kinds of people in this world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers. Caregiving is universal. - Rosalynn Carter, former First Lady of the United States.
The Impact of Caregiving on Workforce Productivity
Charna Martini, Assistant Vice President, Health Transformation at AON, opened the discussion by defining caregiving as the act of assisting an individual with daily activities that they cannot perform independently, whether the caregiver is compensated or not. She noted that these tasks can range from household chores and running errands to managing bills and supporting personal hygiene. These responsibilities demand significant time and mental energy, often leading to increased absenteeism, reduced engagement and decreased overall productivity. Employees juggling caregiving and professional duties may also struggle with burnout, higher stress levels and difficulty meeting work deadlines.
Charna stressed the impact that caregiving has on employees sharing that:
73% of employees have caregiving responsibilities (including childcare and long term care needs)
67% struggle to balance work and caregiving responsibilities
Both men and women are impacted by caregiving responsibilities for children or elderly individuals. Charna noted that additional studies have shown that 50% of employees arrived late, left early or took time off due to their caregiving roles. Some employees have even taken a leave of absence, stopped working entirely or changed employers to find more flexibility.
(Featured image from AON)
Charna provided a number of potential solutions for employers to support their caregiving employees including:
Creating a Safe Space – Employers can host webinars or meetings to educate employees on how to maximize their health benefits, share caregiving experiences from leaders within the organization and provide training for managers to better understand and support caregiving employees.
Promoting Flexibility – Employers who offer flexible work options can free up time for employees to attend medical appointments or care for loved ones without facing repercussions.
Addressing Financial Strain – Caregiving often equates to a second full-time job. Employers should consider offering fully paid caregiving leave, providing access to special caregiving programs and funding or matching dependent care assistance programs.
Establishing a Caregivers’ Network – Employees spend a significant amount of time at work, making it crucial to promote a sense of community among peers who are experiencing similar life events. Promoting caregiver support groups within the organization can allow caregiver employees to connect with others and exchange local resources.
Expanding Benefits – Employers should consider expanding caregiver support within their benefits plan to include career coaching, mentoring and access to caregiving management services. Employers may also consider offering subsidies or arranging access to specialized caregiving support.
While not every employer may be able to implement these strategies fully, even incremental steps—such as enhancing benefits and fostering a supportive culture—can help ease the physical, emotional and financial burdens of caregiving. By prioritizing caregiver-friendly policies, organizations can cultivate a more engaged, resilient and productive workforce.
Can Employer-Based Caregiver Support Programs Be a “Win-Win”?
With shifting demographics and the rise of long term care needs, Eileen J. Tell, Principal and CEO of ET Consulting, LLC, shared how working caregivers are becoming an increasingly larger share of the workforce—posing financial risks for both the caregivers and their employers.
Eileen explained that survey data from 4,500 working caregivers reflected that they are more likely than caregivers not in the workforce to care for a parent or child than a spouse and that these caregiving responsibilities often disrupt their work lives—ultimately impacting their ability to perform their jobs effectively. In addition, research reveals that working caregivers express more concern about their long-term financial security compared to non-working caregivers, who must decide between saving for retirement or caregiving costs.
Eileen shared that flexible work hours, paid leave and elder care subsidies are common workplace supports, but more comprehensive solutions, such as on-site elder care, are still rare.
(Featured image from ET Consulting, LLC)
Despite the growing need for resources among employees, caregivers often struggle to find the right services for their loved ones—a challenging and time-consuming task that can disrupt their workday. While flexible work hours are the most common accommodation offered by employers, working caregivers prioritize provider referrals as the most valuable support. Paid leave, flexible schedules, and remote work options follow closely behind.
(Featured image from ET Consulting, LLC)
Employers can support working caregivers by offering an employer-sponsored caregiver support platform. This resource helps employees with care planning, provider referrals, and access to discounts on care services, making it easier to balance work and caregiving responsibilities
Before implementing these programs, though, Eileen stressed the need for employers to assess workforce demographics and leverage tools such as employee surveys to gauge the impact of caregiving on their workforce to determine whether or not a support program would be well-received.
Eileen followed this by highlighting the importance of senior leadership buy-in to successfully implement care programs and the need for employee confidentiality and trust in their employer.
These programs also need to be heavily marketed to employees through multiple internal channels to ensure employees are aware of and know how to gain access to the resources being offered.
While there is limited publicly available and peer-reviewed data on the ROI of caregiving support, Eileen pointed to a rather recent model from Harvard Business School as a way for employers to estimate the potential returns of such programs.
(Featured image from ET Consulting, LLC)
Harnessing the Private Sector for Caregiving Support
Karen Kavanaugh, who leads the Working While Caring initiative at Tufts Medical Center, wrapped up the discussion by emphasizing the need to create more inclusive national caregiving strategies. She highlighted that individuals with mental health conditions, neurological disorders, developmental disabilities and substance use disorders were often underrepresented in national caregiving initiatives—stressing the need for increased stakeholder engagement in future policy discussions.
Karen highlighted how the majority of individuals balancing work and caregiving want to do both; they do not want to choose between the two but simply need more support to remain in the workforce. Yet without access to relevant ROI data, practical guidance, and clear examples, employers may hesitate to act or fail to see caregiving as a pressing workforce issue. Effective, lasting solutions must also align with each organization’s unique workflows, operations, and employee needs. For instance, offering paid or unpaid leave can be especially difficult for small and mid-sized employers—realities that must be acknowledged to design meaningful and sustainable support systems.
As part of her role at Tufts University, Karen shared information about the Working While Caring Innovation Lab where her team meets regularly with a group of employers in Michigan to better understand support implementation challenges and pilot different caregiver support solutions. For example, these Michigan-based employers are working together to design and establish a caregiver navigator, an individual that can field phone calls and talk with employees, to be shared among organizations. This navigator would be extremely knowledgeable in government programs, local resources as well as what support the employer already offers to assist working caregivers. The hope is to expand this innovation lab across industries and employers of all sizes to build the case for more caregiver support in the workplace. Karen stressed that while employers are leading these initiatives independently, additional government and community support could encourage the impact and scalability.
Lastly, Karen pointed out that effective caregiving solutions depend on the availability, affordability and accessibility of community-based resources. Many organizations that attempt to provide concierge-style caregiving services struggle to point employees toward accessible and affordable options, making it difficult to sustain long-term support. She also noted that some states, such as California, are working on innovative models to assist individuals who fall outside Medicaid eligibility but still face significant caregiving barriers. These efforts could serve as a blueprint for employer-driven programs looking to better support their caregiving workforce.
Business Collaborative for Brain Health Updates
Collaborative members are invited to Houston, Texas, on May 21-22, 2025 for a roundtable on Brain Capital: The New Competitive Advantage in a Shifting Economy. This event will convene business leaders, investors, neuroscientists and policymakers to explore the latest developments in brain health and develop recommendations for building an economy driven by brain capital in Texas, the United States and beyond. Learn more at: https://businessforbrainhealth.org/braineconomyhouston
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The Business Collaborative for Brain Health (BCBH) is a collaborative of private sector partners developing innovative solutions to cognitive health throughout the lifespan. The Collaborative hosts regular roundtables to learn from experts and stakeholders and refine the work. If you’re interested in attending or participating in a roundtable discussion or want to learn more about how you can get involved with the Collaborative visit: https://businessforbrainhealth.org/