Go beyond flexible hours and daycare partnerships to help caregivers

The caregiving crisis may have gotten more attention over the last few years, but it still poses a significant threat to organizations offering the wrong kinds of benefits.   

Child care costs have surged by 22% since 2020, according to a recent report from global care benefit provider Helpr, causing families to spend up to 20% of their household income on expenses. On the other end of the spectrum, elder care costs are also soaring, with the average private room in a nursing home costing $9,733 per month. Caught in the middle, employees are spreading themselves too thin to make it work. 

"They may not realize it now, but organizations really depend on the expectation that people are going to be able to manage their jobs and all their caregiving responsibilities," says Becka Klauber, co-founder and president of Helpr. "But if those people walked away, we'd be in a crisis beyond what we can even fathom." 

Read more: The caregiving crisis is upon us

The average informal caregiver — someone who provides free assistance to family members, friends or neighbors — spends approximately 245 hours annually on these tasks, according to the National Partnership for Women and Families. In addition, Helpr's data found that even with outside help, nearly 50% of all employees take time off for caregiving and over half consider quitting their jobs.

And workplaces are feeling the effects: Over 80% of employees with caregiving responsibilities admit these duties impact their job performance, leading to a drop in productivity. For businesses, this translates into a staggering $33 billion lost in productivity per year. To function better at work, employees need more support from their employers.

"What companies will be expected to do is fill those gaps," says Klauber. "We need benefits that meet the needs of what people actually want, not what employers think they need just because they're traditional." 

Read more: The caregiving benefits employees need at every stage

This means going beyond flexible hours and partnering with big-name day cares and existing caregiving platforms. While those benefits are still important to offer, many employees already have caregiving solutions that work for them, like lesser-known platforms and websites as well as local babysitters they've used for years. Therefore, Benefits that give them the freedom to choose what they are comfortable with are extremely valuable.

The pathways to making support more holistic are well within benefit managers' reach. One example organizations could consider is creating a benefit that subsidizes the cost of child care or informal care, helping to alleviate some of the financial stress employees are facing. Another is to offer up-front payments for employees to use on a caregiving option of their choice as long as it meets the right requirements. 

"This is not just altruism," Klauber says. "This is for the sake of keeping your business productive, and making sure that you have engaged employees. There's a real necessity for both the employees and employers to offer these kinds of care benefits."