November is National Family Caregivers Month, and the APA Foundation’s Center for Workplace Mental Health has created a new resource toolkit to help employers support working caregivers.
More than 63 million Americans provide unpaid care to family members or loved ones, making caregiving one of the nation’s most common, yet often unseen, roles. Many of these individuals are full-time employees in addition to their duties caring for their elderly parents, children with complex medical conditions, or in many cases of the “sandwich generation,” both.
While caregivers represent many different demographic groups and backgrounds, they do tend to share one thing: 70% of U.S. caregivers report experiencing anxiety and depression. With little time to attend to their own needs, working caregivers frequently struggle with their mental health, and employers have a crucial role to play in supporting them.
The APA Foundation’s Center for Workplace Mental Health provides employers with the tools, resources, and information needed to promote and support the mental health of employees and their families. Supporting caregivers in the workplace not only reduces the stress that caregiving can bring but also helps engage employees when work-life balance becomes difficult. Caregivers report that the workplace benefits they value most highly include flexible working arrangements, peer support programs, and options to work hybrid or remotely.
“Caregiving is one of the cornerstones of a healthy society, and employers need to accommodate their employees that have these responsibilities at home,” said Betsy Schwartz, M.S.W., Senior Director of the Center for Workplace Mental Health. “Over half of caregivers say they would change jobs to access better support benefits. Research shows that when employers recognize and support the needs of caregivers, productivity and retention improve.” According to the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, 60% of working caregivers experience work disruptions due to their responsibilities at home – and research from the American Association of Retired Persons shows that only about half (53%) of working caregivers said their supervisor knew about it.
In addition to the Center’s report, Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Working Caregivers: A Guide, the toolkit includes accompanying resources, including a one-page summary of the full report and a “myths versus facts” sheet about caregiver mental health. Each resource can be downloaded at no cost.
Employers can learn how to implement these solutions and more in the caregiver resource toolkit on workplacementalhealth.org.
American Psychiatric Association Foundation
The American Psychiatric Association Foundation is the philanthropic and educational arm of APA. The APA Foundation promotes awareness of mental illnesses and the effectiveness of treatment, the importance of early intervention, access to care, and the need for high-quality services and treatment through a combination of public and professional education, research, research training, grants, and awards.