HELP ON THE HOMEFRONT
Employers embrace generous family-leave policies to help caregivers cope
WHEN Ava Sloane of Hoboken, NJ, took a fully paid, five-month leave of absence from work last November, she did it guilt-free.
The manager at global professional-services firm Deloitte left to transition her 94-year-old ailing mother with dementia into a new nursing home in Florida. “Every time there was a crisis, it threw us into chaos dealing with things long-distance, or needing to fly down.”
Mentioning she was “torn between managing this and working well,” Sloane tapped into her employer’s family leave policy, which expanded last fall: up to 16 weeks of paid time off on a rolling calendar year (beginning when the first day of leave is taken) encompassing the parent celebrating the arrival of a new child to caring for a spouse or significant other to supporting aging parents.
Sloane’s supervisor approached her and suggested pursuing it. It was a total win-win.
“How can it not be a good arrangement?” Sloane says. “To spend time helping my mom and helping her caregiver. That time off was amazingly precious. My mother’s memory was going — this was the last time she would remember me.”
Focusing on her mother meant “not checking e-mails 100 times a day and having a very scheduled existence,” but Sloane’s work family filled in during her absence. “Knowing that people were stepping up to the plate alleviated guilt about burdening someone with additional work,” she says.
Jennifer Fisher, national managing director of well-being at Deloitte, says, “The firm’s got your back. Focus on the people who matter most to you in your life, and when you’re ready to come back, we’re here for you. When we can help our people be happy, healthy, engaged and well in their life, that’s also who shows up at work. For us, this program is good business. If it wasn’t for our people, we wouldn’t have a business.”
The 16 weeks don’t need to be consecutive. Fisher adds, “Caregiving ebbs and flows. There are times when you’re completely consumed and other times when you’re not. Being able to check back in and focus on work and do something else is good for the soul and good for the spirit.”
Deloitte’s onto something. A 2017 report from the Northeast Business Group on Health reveals that more than one in six Americans who work is also a caregiver — and that number is on the rise. Plus, a 2015 report by Ceridian LifeWorks indicates care-giving-related costs result in approximately $38 billion lost each year for employers encompassing absenteeism, lost productivity, increased health care costs (typically they’re in poorer health than noncaregiving employees) and higher turnover rates resulting in costs to recruit and train new hires.
Considering the elderly population is projected to double to 88 million by 2050, Barbara Mitchell, co-author of “The Big Book of HR” (Career Press, revised 2017), says, “In today’s tight labor market, family friendly policies help attract, engage, motivate and retain the best talent. Smart employers respect their employees, the work they do and that each employee is an individual with other life responsibilities.”
Mitchell adds, “People should not be forced to choose between family and work!” (Laws such as the Family and Medical Leave Act provide unpaid leave in certain situations, but specific requirements indicate which employees are eligible for FMLA.)
Taking unpaid leave should be a last resort, says Mitchell’s co-author, Cornelia Gamlem. If policies don’t exist, propose management with flex time and telecommuting options. “Elder care benefits, including referral services, may be available, especially if the employer offers an employee-assistance program.”
Another option? Employees donating their paid leave to a shared bank so caregivers who’ve tapped out their own time can take additional paid time off.
Fortunately, Eve Vaval, social worker at the Alzheimer’s Association New York City Chapter, has flexibility at work. Caring for her father with Alzheimer’s who lives with her, Vaval has taken paid-time-off days when needed (25 days per year in addition to nine holidays per year). “I’ve also taken advantage of the association’s employee health day, set aside so employees can make doctor appointments and take care of their personal health needs.”
Vaval says, “Often the burden of care falls on one person. Employees who are also caregivers may be in this situation for years. Facing this disease has helped me understand the importance of taking care of my own health. Sometimes, you are so overwhelmed by taking care of someone else that you neglect your own physical, mental and emotional well-being.”
Fisher seconds that notion. “When you’re caregiving, we give our all. Alleviate the stress of feeling like you have to be everything to everyone in that moment and really focus on what’s most important. Too often, caregivers are trying to fill too many roles — the one that goes by the wayside is taking care of themselves.”
In hindsight, Sloane’s even more appreciative that she took care of herself several months ago; her mother passed away the same day as her interview with the Post.
“With her death,” she says, “it made that leave of absence so much more important.”