Historically, the tech industry hasn’t been synonymous with female employees. Akamai shares the same situation: Men make up 76.5% of the company’s workforce, Sardella says, and diversity and inclusion has been a struggle. Balancing childcare responsibilities with work priorities has often been identified as a major cause of the gender imbalance in tech. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 90% of people have missed work due to family responsibilities, for what the Northeast Business Group on Health estimates to be an average of six missed days a year.
As Americans age, fall ill or suffer a disability, the need for caregivers grows — and many workers are struggling to juggle familial responsibilities with their careers.
It’s estimated over 65 million people, nearly 30% of the U.S. population, cares for a family member. On average, they devote 20 hours per week to caregiving. For employers, caregiving benefits are becoming a new way to attract and retain talent. In a survey by Northeast Business Group on Health and AARP, caregiving ranks among the “top ten employee health and wellness benefits priorities” for most employers.
Employees stretched thin by providing care to relatives — whether ill or elderly — could be getting some help from employers going forward. A Society for Human Resource Management report says that more than 75 percent of employers believe that caregiving benefits will become more important to their companies over the next five years. Why? Increased productivity, decreased absenteeism and reduced health care costs, in that order, are the reasons more employers are considering investing in caregiving benefits, programs and services. Benefits managers at 129 employers throughout the U.S. were polled by the Northeast Business Group on Health in collaboration with AARP for the report Caregiving and the Workplace: Employer Benchmarking Survey, which was released last month.
More than three-quarters of employers say caregiving benefits will grow in importance to their companies over the next five years, especially when it comes to caring for elderly or ailing family members.
Employers cite increased productivity, decreased absenteeism and reduced health care costs—in that order—as the top drivers that would make a compelling case for investment in caregiving benefits, programs and services, according to responses from benefits managers at 129 mostly large employers throughout the U.S., polled earlier this year by the Northeast Business Group on Health (NEBGH) in collaboration with AARP. The findings were reported in a July 2017 report, Caregiving and the Workplace: Employer Benchmarking Survey.Caregiving ranks among the top 10 employee health and wellness benefits priorities for most employers, says a new survey by Northeast Business Group on Health (NEBGH) in collaboration with AARP. Furthermore, among employers who say caregiving is not a top priority, most are aware of the issue but unable to address it. More than three-quarters of employers surveyed agree that caregiving will grow in importance to their companies over the next 5 years.
As the country grapples with an opioid crisis, employers must design benefit packages that cover essential treatment options for addicts, industry executives said Tuesday at a forum hosted by the Northeast Business Group on Health. Employers have gradually become more comfortable classifying substance-use disorders as medical conditions. A recent poll from the National Safety Council found 71% of U.S. human resources executives considered misuse of prescription drugs a disease. "There's still a stigma—don't think it's been solved," said Laurel Pickering, president and chief executive of the business group. "But as more companies have become open to talking about mental health, more are talking about substance use."
Paid leave continues to be a hot topic among employers. As large companies like Netflix and municipalities such as Nashville have strengthened their family leave benefits, caregiving perks also rank high on workers’ must-have list of benefits. Caregiving is among the top 10 employee health and wellness benefits priorities for most employers, according to a new survey by Northeast Business Group on Health and AARP, and most employers agree that in the next five years, caregiving is going to become an increasingly important issue among employees.
Caregiving is among the top 10 employee health and wellness benefits priorities for most employers, according to a new survey from the Northeast Business Group on Health in collaboration with AARP. More than three-quarters of employers surveyed say that caregiving will grow in importance to their companies during the next five years.
A growing number of employers are becoming aware that workers are providing greater hands-on support to aging parents and other family members — and that employers can help through employee benefits, according to the report, “Caregiving Growing in Importance to Employers,” by the Northeast Business Group on Health in collaboration with AARP. NEBGH surveyed benefits managers from 129 U.S. employers and found that two-thirds (66 percent) agree that during the next five years, caregiving will become an increasingly important issue to their workers. Nearly half (45 percent) say caregiving benefits are within their top 10 priorities for employee health and benefit issues, while 12 percent say it’s within their top five priorities. However, 32 percent say they are unable to address the issue, and 11 percent say it’s not even on their radar.
Many employers recognize the burden that caregiving employees shoulder: A new survey by the Northeast Business Group on Health (undertaken in partnership with AARP) finds that more than three quarters of the 129 mostly large employers surveyed agree that caregiving will grow in importance to their companies over the next five years. Respondents cited increased productivity, decreased absenteeism and reduced healthcare costs as the top drivers that would make a compelling case for investing in benefits that would make them “caregiver friendly” organizations.