A resource from:
Home Instead Senior Care
You thought that caring for children was a challenge. They’re grown now, but you may be feeling that same work-family tug in looking after your senior loved one. You’re not alone.
One of the most valuable employee eldercare benefits offered to working family caregivers at the mass media company CBS could be peace of mind, noted Vice President of Human Resources Specialty Services Michelle Martin.
Is there a stigma around family caregivers of older adults? Drew Holzapfel from ReACT (Respect a Caregiver’s Time) points out that senior caregiving issues often are not accepted like child-care issues and might even be stigmatized.
"Each day, all across North America, franchise owners and their CAREGivers see the strain that family caregiving is placing on individuals who are trying to do their best to work and care for aging loved ones. It's a balancing act that often leaves employers and employees frustrated. Our hope is to encourage both to look for ways to make family caregiving a win-win in the workplace."
Caring for your dad is becoming more difficult. You're exhausted and struggling to keep up with your workload. Maybe it's impacting multiple areas of your life and job.
"Ted" - one of three adult sons - had a stressful career as a newspaper copy editor with limited time to help care for his elderly mother, who lived three hours from his home.
With a family of her own to care for and a full-time job, Christy still found time to make frequent trips to see her father who was living several hours from her in another part of her state. After a second stroke, her dad was admitted to a skilled nursing community a bit closer -- 62 miles from Christy's home.
If you're caring for an aging loved one and trying to manage a job, you may have seen your own health decline, even if you've tried your best to stay on top of things. The 2011 Wellbeing of Working American Caregivers study, conducted by Gallup and sponsored by Pfizer, revealed that working family caregivers have a 25 percent higher incidence of high blood pressure.
Shelley," a 51-year-old single mother who raised three children on her own, including a son who survived cancer, also cared for her father and mother before they died. Despite receiving a medical assisting certification and a nine-month computer programming degree, she was laid off from her job in 2008 and has not been able to find work since. She currently is on disability as a result of a childhood back injury that has worsened.
Think you can't afford to develop family-friendly business practices for your employees who are caring for an older adult? As the latest research suggests, perhaps you can't afford not to address these issues. According to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index surveys released in 2011, caregiving costs the U.S. economy $25.2 billion in lost productivity.
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