As the cost of childcare and eldercare increases and U.S. workforce shrinks, “it’s going to be ever more important that those who have caregiving responsibilities, who need to or wish to stay in the workforce, have the support they need,” said Phyllis Stewart Pires, the AVP of employee support programs at Stanford University.

Childcare and eldercare are increasingly out of reach for many households: Not only is care often cost-prohibitive, it’s not always available. There are often long waitlists for care centers and some rural areas may have no options at all. Companies are increasingly aware that the need for childcare support was not just a circumstance of the pandemic, but a workforce issue with consequences for employee productivity, retention, and equity.

Caregiving spans from the highchair to the rocking chair, says Dave Jacobs, co-CEO of caregiver support platform Homethrive. “It doesn’t discriminate based on education or socio-economic means. Even if you have the will and knowledge to be able to find the support you need, it’s becoming more expensive, and most of it is private pay,” he said during a From Day One webinar on caregiving benefits. Without support, the stress of taking care of family members encroaches on employee well-being and productivity. The result is distracted employees, or worse: preventable attrition.

Caregiver dropout affects the whole talent pipeline. “As people are offered opportunities to move from, say, individual contributor to manager, manager to director, director to VP, sometimes they will decline those opportunities if they have a really stable caregiving situation and don’t want to disrupt that,” Jacobs said. 

Some are forced out of the workforce entirely. “It’s not only about losing opportunities, it’s also about losing the dream job or sometimes just losing everything.” Caregiving is not only a matter of health and wellness, it’s a matter of equitable opportunities for everyone,” said Arturo Arteaga, senior director of total rewards at VCA Animal Hospitals. 

Forward-thinking employers are experimenting with a range of support. At Stanford, on-site childcare centers provide access to care and create jobs in the community, many of which were wiped out by the pandemic. Pires sees the potential for public-private partnerships to fill gaps in care. At VCA, where 80% of employees work on-site, Arteaga has introduced backup care.

Some employers are building networks of vetted providers in communities where employees live, said Jacobs, offering subsidies for regular care, keeping backup care options available, and making schedules flexible when possible. 

At international law firm Sheppard Mullin, senior HR director Thomas Adrian is focused on gender equity, as the burden on caregiving falls primarily on women. “Because of the partnership model, we really want to maintain that gender equality between male and female,” he said, so employees are afforded as much paid time off as needed. The firm also defines caregiving broadly. “We won’t define the word family. If you live with your brother and he needs help, or his child needs help, we’re going to extend it to them. If you are concerned about someone you define as family, it’s going to come back and affect your work.”

Flexibility is paramount, says Erin Fitzsimmons, the global head of talent attraction at TE Connectivity. One of her U.S.-based colleagues works with teams in China, and after putting her kids to bed, takes calls with her overseas colleagues. Fitzsimmons herself relied on the flexibility last year when she returned from parental leave. Unable to travel, she took overseas calls remotely while her team made the trip. “Being a global company, not everyone is on your typical 9-to-5. It all comes back to culture,” she said. 

Communication is paramount. Adrian at Sheppard Mullin makes sure caregiving benefits are automatically highlighted in any conversation about leave. Fitzsimmons created comprehensive benefits packets detailing when and how leave is available, and Arteaga stresses consistency: “Not once a year or twice a year. Constant,” he said. 

Some benefits don’t matter much until you need them–often right away. When that happens, employees need information close at hand. Employers investing in caregiving, from last-minute backup help to community infrastructure are not only helping their own employees, they’re protecting the future of the business.

Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Homethrive, for sponsoring this webinar. 

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is an independent journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about business and the world of work. Her work has appeared in the Economist, the BBC, The Washington Post, Inc., and Business Insider, among others. She is the recipient of a Virginia Press Association award for business and financial journalism. She is the host of How to Be Anything, the podcast about people with unusual jobs.

(Photo by AleksandarNakic/iStock)