# Presentation: 210403

## Family Caregivers:  

**Debbie Phillips**
**WFD Consulting**
**200 Talcott Avenue West**
**Watertown, MA 02472**
**deb.phillips@wfd.com**

- Family Caregivers:
- A Business Perspective

## Family Caregivers:  A Business Perspective

**U.S. Administration on Aging Conference**
**The National Family Caregiver Support Program:  **
**“****From Enactment to Action”**
**September 6-7, 2001**
**Washington Hilton and Towers**
**Washington, DC**

## Family Caregivers:  A Business Perspective

- As employees age, elder caregiver concerns heighten
- AND
- working caregivers worry about managing work and personal responsibilities

## Family Caregivers:  A Business Perspective

**Family Caregivers:  A Business Perspective**

- A Look at the Research
- Caregiver Demographic data are drawn from 19 large companies
- 12% of employee caregivers currently provide care to an elder or adult dependent
- 24 % do not currently provide care but expect to in the next 3-4 years

**Notes:**
These are some of the services that WFD provides -- both domestically and globally -- to help companies stay ahead of emerging people issues and achieve measurable business results.

Employee Commitment Audits -- measure work-force commitment, identify factors that drive it, implement initiatives to strengthen it, and evaluate its impact on your bottom line
Work-life Strategy -- uncover work-life opportunities within your organization, implement these programs, and help achieve business goals
Community Investment & Dependent Care Strategy -- develop strategies that reflect your business needs, then recommend and implement solutions
Workplace Flexibility Consulting -- attract and retain top performers through flexible work arrangements, increased autonomy, and better work load distribution  (Make the point that WFD’s expertise goes beyond just flexible work schedules.  You can’t have a flexible work environment without looking at the work itself -- both the issue of workload, and how the work gets done.  This is the next phase of flexibility, as evidenced by two recent WSJ articles where Perry and Paul were quoted on WFD’s experience in work redesign.)
Women’s Advancement -- help recruit, retain and promote one of your greatest untapped resources, the women within your organization
Collaborative Research -- facilitate research on emerging trends, allowing companies facing similar workplace issues to keep ahead of the change curve
ActionLab for Executive Mgmt -- provide senior management with ongoing briefings and tools to help create a competitive advantage in the workplace

(There is a back-up slide on each service that gives further detail, if you need  to highlight a specific one.  These back-up slides, and a few case studies, are in the 3/24/99 customized presentation made to Ceridian, which is in the WFDepot.)

## Family Caregivers:  A Business Perspective

- Elder Data Examined
- Drawn from 10 quantitative studies and over 20 qualitative studies between 1998 - 2001
- demographics
- difficulties encountered
- frequency of providing types of care
- services of value

## Family Caregivers:  A Business Perspective

- Demographics
- Most elders are in their 70s or 80s (72%)
- Most caregivers live within 50 miles of the elder for whom they provide care
- 45% of employee caregivers spend between one and five hours per week providing care
- One in five caregivers spend 11or more hours per week providing care

## Family Caregivers:  A Business Perspective

- Difficulties Encountered
- Most caregivers indicate having “some” or “great” difficulty caring for their elder
- Access to information is a primary concern
- 84% have difficulty with affordable care
- 82% cannot find companionship services
- 81% identify quality care as a major problem

## Family Caregivers:  A Business Perspective

- What Type of Care Do Employee Caregivers Most Frequently Provide?
- Emotional Support (80%)
- Companionship (75%)
- Help Managing Finances (60%)
- Transportation (40%)
- Household Chores (40%)

## Family Caregivers:  A Business Perspective

- What Do Employee Caregivers Value?
- Flexibility
- Information
- Services

## Family Caregivers:  A Business Perspective

- So how do we provide and implement services for working caregivers?