Column: Elder care emerging as workplace issue

As baby boomers age, work-life balance is taking on new meaning, with important implications for business.

The government estimates that by 2018, nearly a quarter of the U.S. workforce will be 55 or older. Given the recession”™s blow to retirement accounts, many boomers will need to work longer than they”™d anticipated. At the same time, many will be caring for fragile parents who are living longer, due to medical advances. A study by AARP”™s Public Policy Institute labels care of the elderly the “new normal” for American families. Care needs can erupt suddenly and dramatically, disrupting long-established roles and responsibilities. And there are indications that today”™s caregivers are dealing with increased disabilities, requiring them to provide more intimate, physically demanding assistance.

Businesses that fail to adapt to these demographic shifts stand to lose big. Gallup reports that employees missing work to care for a loved one costs companies close to $25 billion annually. This number may be shocking, but consider that according to AARP, the typical caregiver for an elderly person devotes almost 20 hours per week for five years to the task. All that juggling results in stress and burnout, which in turn can cause health and morale problems. Valued and experienced employees can be lost if they”™re unable to navigate both work and family life.

Elder care demands misunderstood

Unfortunately, the burdens of elder care aren”™t widely appreciated, and the conflicts faced by caregivers may sometimes be interpreted as a lack of career commitment. AARP points out that if unequal treatment results from such assumptions, it constitutes “family responsibilities discrimination (FRD).” According to the National Alliance for Caregiving, some employees conceal their family situations because they fear just such a response. And, indeed, FRD is becoming an important public policy issue, with advocates pushing for legal reform.

At present, although federal law protects workers against bias based on many factors ”“ disability, sex, race, religion, national origin ”“ there is no focus on discrimination against caregivers as a group. Only four states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books that specifically protect family caregivers, and New York is not one of them. AARP and other advocates are working to change that.

To date, legal action has largely relied on claims of sex discrimination (women comprise 65 percent of family caregivers), responsibility for someone with a disability, or breaches of family and medical leave law. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) mandates that companies employing 50 or more individuals must allow as much as 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for care of a parent, spouse or child. But elder care often involves intermittent, crisis-driven demands, and may involve family members not covered under the law. Some advocates are suggesting that FMLA be amended to protect any primary caregiver and to apply to small businesses.

Ways to help

There are many steps that businesses could take to prepare for these changing social needs. Research by the National Alliance for Caregiving indicates that both employers and employees benefit from the smaller turnover rate, higher productivity and improved morale that often result when workplace elder care programs are established.

Because the demands of elder care are not common knowledge, stereotypes sometimes exist concerning older employees whose workdays are repeatedly disrupted by family crises. Addressing this topic in diversity training could help to create business cultures that recognize and validate the sometimes significant outside demands placed on caregivers.

Much has been written about the business advantages of workplace flexibility. Telecommuting, compressed work weeks and modified start/stop times could enable workers to better coordinate their personal and professional responsibilities.

Hourly employees, who may work variable shifts, could benefit from predictable scheduling that enables them to plan ahead. Since frequently revised “just-in-time” schedules often result in high absenteeism and turnover, this change could save employers money in the long run.

Benefit plans could include options for subsidized home care to cover emergencies. Human resource departments could help employees identify government programs, fee-based services and community support groups to assist them with workers”™ caregiver responsibilities.

Due to their great numbers, baby boomers will continue to precipitate social change, as they have throughout their lives. And their emerging role as caregivers to an older generation will have far-reaching implications for families, public policy and the economy. Savvy business leaders will take steps to accommodate the inevitable pressures to be faced by this cohort of highly experienced employees.

Bernard A. Krooks is managing partner of the law firm Littman Krooks LLP (www.littmankrooks.com, (914) 684-2100), with offices in White Plains, Manhattan and Fishkill. He is a certified elder law attorney, past president of the national Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and listed in Best Lawyers in America.