70% of caregivers fear they'll have to leave the workforce to support loved ones

Caregiving benefits have gained a significant amount of traction among companies, but for those still struggling to support their loved ones in need, has it been enough?

One in five employees in the United States is currently caring for a loved one, according to a recent study conducted by caregiving benefit provider Homethrive in partnership with the CLTC Leadership Summit and HomeStead. Seventy percent of the workers doubling as unpaid family caregivers fear they'll have to leave their careers without paid in-home care.

"Family caregiver challenges is still an under appreciated need in this market," according to Dave Jacobs, co-founder and CEO of HomeThrive. "Especially amongst employers who are focused on productivity, retention and diversity, equity and inclusion. They are only now starting to recognize the role that family caregivers support plays in all of those things." 

Read more: 'Not out of the woods': Caregivers still need more support

The study found that unpaid family caregivers are spending upwards of 20 hours a week on caregiving, and those responsibilities will cause one in three to leave the workforce. Forty-two percent of caregivers said they spend their time coordinating with doctors and care teams, 38% helping find providers, 34% delivering meals, 32% recommending devices and equipment and 31% assessing home safety.  

Jacobs, who was once the primary caregiver for his father, explained just how demanding all of these responsibilities can be on employees.

"Almost everything that a family caregiver has to do on behalf of a loved one has to be done during the day," Jacobs says. "If you have to call an insurance company, that has to be done during the day. To call doctors and make appointments or even attend those appointments, those are all done during the day. To run errands for somebody, like grocery shopping, most of those things have to be done during the day." 

On one occasion, Jacobs had to coordinate an MRI for his father, a feat that he had to face in the middle of his work day. It required several phone calls during company time, research as well as mental capacity otherwise reserved for his daily tasks. 

"I felt very inadequate — like it was my responsibility to figure this out for my parents as a good son," he said. "I never told anybody I was doing that, that I wasn't doing my job, that I was doing these things and it created a level of stress and frustration. And that was just one MRI." 

Read more: How employers can tailor benefits to support caregivers

Support for caregivers has even reached legislative initiatives, and companies like Homethrive — which provides caregiving families with a designated specialist as a work benefit to handle the more administrative caregiving tasks — have gained popularity in the world of benefits. But not only does implementation remain slow, but employees are still hesitant to speak out about their status.

There is still no quick solution to the former, according to Jacobs. For something to become a staple among benefits it takes time and patience. But there is a solution for the latter, and it falls on employers.

"The best practice we've seen is to have employers sponsor employee resource groups," Jacobs said. "You'd be surprised at how quickly the family caregiver ERGs become active. Second, take employee surveys. Typically [caregivers] are not part of surveys and so it doesn't come up and. To be able to ask them and have their employer recognize that this is something they're curious about gives people a forum to be able to share information."