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Eldercare is reactive. Usually there are no plans until after a crisis hits. Suddenly everyone’s plans are in disarray. Emotions can be overwhelming. Working adults with eldercare responsibilities attempt to keep caregiving from having an impact on their performance at work. They want to avoid any perception that the burdens of caregiving might be a distraction. Promotions, salaries, and even continued employment are at stake.  So they soldier on in silence, not partaking of the employee programs, desperate for more and better information, and unable to bring their personal caregiving issues into the workplace because it is not “professional”.

While there are enlightened workplaces that encourage work life balance, businesses hire employees to do an expected amount of work.  If productivity slacks off, the employer discusses it with the employee and expects the employee to improve his performance.  Period.  All the reasons for being distracted, late to work, leaving early, taking time off, reducing hours, or taking a leave of absence take a back seat to the impact of an unproductive employee on the bottom line.   

This is not cruelty and greed.  Employers may care about their employees, but it is their primary job to keep the company in business. Businesses want to produce product,  create jobs, provide income, and reinvest profits. Consciously or unconsciously, employers will favor the less-distracted, get-in-early, work-late, go getters. Even if a  EAP program guarantees confidentiality, it is difficult for employees to believe their jobs will not be impacted if they seek help through the workplace resources.  Employees believe Big Brother is watching.

So caregivers in the corporate workplace are silent.  They fake it. Caregiving is a chronic distraction, but employers and employees all behave as if the situation is temporary.  The Society of Human Resources Management cites the significant effect this situation has on employees, calling eldercare “the silent productivity killer.”

I don’t have an answer to this problem.  I just know that as the Baby Boomer generation reaches age 65, more and more employees will have to balance work and caregiving.  It will not be a choice. It cannot be hidden. 78 million Baby Boomers will be taking on caregiving for parents, spouses, other relatives, friends, and themselves. This reality will not go away. How can businesses and employees find a common ground where there is no stigma to being a caregiver, the aging work population is allowed to be its age, and all the work gets done?  We need to struggle with this until we have an answer. The cost of doing nothing is a distracted, exhausted, inhibited workforce and decreasing productivity resulting in a diminishing bottom line.

Should support come from a different source than the employer? What would that source be? Please don’t give it to the government which needs to concentrate on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Do we recognize that some people may have to cut back on work hours during elder caregiving years.  Unlike young parents, they may have to face the end of the upward trajectory of their careers.  Maybe we just need to make that OK with society in general.

Is it possible to change a work culture that puts the needs of the employed and the employer in direct conflict?  I think it is.  The June, 2010, issue of Inc. Magazine cites dozens of examples of successful companies with marvelous work cultures that support work life balance. Interestingly, while Inc. has plenty of mentions of flextime and help with childcare issues, I did not find a single mention of eldercare.

The conflict between eldercare and work is going to be a HUGE issue.  We need to get rid of the conflict. If we are proactive, like young parents, rather than reactive and surprised like an adult child who gets the call that “Mom has broken her hip and cannot live alone any more”, maybe we can have some sensible programs in place before the tsunami hits.

Photo Credit: cjanebuy

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Copyright TheNewElder 2012