Not sure if your work environment is caregiver-friendly?
Here is why supporting caregivers is good business. When our community comes together, good things happen. When caregivers are supported, businesses benefit too. By offering different benefits to caregivers, businesses and caregivers win. Businesses find recruitment easier, there is a reduction in turnover and absenteeism, employees caring for a family member are more productive, and health care costs decrease.
If you are a business owner or an employee, how would you rate how caregiver-friendly your workplace is?
Below is a list of ten questions to assess your place of work:
- Do we care about our employee’s wellbeing inside and outside of the workplace?
- Do we use the term caregiver when referring to benefits, policies, handbooks, and orientation materials?
- Do we offer a flexible work schedule under certain circumstances?
- What do managers think when they hear the term caregiver?
- Are caregiving employees viewed as a liability or an asset?
- Are we approachable if our employees share new information with us?
- How have previous situations with caregiving employees been handled?
- Have employees resigned before due to caregiving responsibilities? If so, how were these situations handled?
- Are we aware of – and do we publicize – resources and services that can help caregiving employees?
- Do we promote healthy work habits, like taking breaks and going for walks?
If you answered “no” to most of the questions, your organization might not be quite there yet when it comes to providing support to caregiver employees. If that is the case, the caregiver-friendly assessment is a great first step to starting a conversation with your employers, employees, and peers to implement best practices for working caregivers. If you would like to make your work environment more caregiver-friendly, the Community Foundation’s Caregiver Support Initiative is here to help. The initiative is comprised of family caregivers who can give you advice on how to create a safe space for working family caregivers. If you would like to connect with family caregivers, we created a virtual platform where you can chat with other family caregivers. The Caregiver Support Initiative’s email discussion group allows people to connect with other family caregivers, share advice, and ask each other questions on caregiving-related topics.
If you would like to connect with family caregivers in the community, sign up for our email discussion group by visiting nevadacaregivers.org/connect/.