The UK’s ‘invisible carers’

As the government continues to step up its focus on childcare provisions for working mothers and fathers, many feel that employers are neglecting those who balance their professional lives with caring for loved ones.

That?s according to new research from My Family Care and enei, which found that UK businesses are not doing enough to support their caring workforce ?therefore running the risk of a talent retention crisis. 

In a survey of 1,000 consumers and 100 employers, research found that 40% of carers don?t get the support they need from friends, family and their employer and only 38% of employers monitor the caring responsibilities of their workforce.

Despite the need for more support for carers at work, there were some positive results from employers. Of the 100 HR managers questioned, one in three (33%) said they have specific policies or communications targeting their carers at work and most of the organisations had wider benefits that would support carers, with the most popular methods of support being:

• Access to an employee helpline or assistance programme (80%)
  
• A culture that is supportive of flexibility (80%)
• Provision of technology to work remotely (77%)
• Paid time off to deal with family emergencies (71%)

In the survey of 1,000 consumers, it found that many felt that while their employer focussed heavily on the childcare responsibilities of their workforce, very few had procedures in place for those carers of parents, grandparents, siblings or partners.  35% of employees said they rarely or never have any kind of support network available to them ? unlike new parents who tend to build a network of people going through the same ?ages and stages? as them.

Almost 7 million* adults in the UK are providing unpaid care to a sick, disabled (of any age) or elderly person.  Over 3 million people combine this care with paid work, which means around 1 in 9 of the UK workforce has caring responsibilities.  The rise in pension age and an ageing population means the number is growing rapidly.

Read the article from My Family Care in full at bit.ly/1GpL5k2