Wellness killer

The average caregiver spends 20 hours to 30 hours per week providing care, in addition to the work the caregiver does for the employer.

Imagine if you haven’t been through this yet, that you are working 40 to 50 hours a week, trying to attend your children’s events and juggle all of your other home duties and now someone gives you 20 to 30 hours of “extra” work. This “extra work” continues for 4.6 years on average.

Obviously, caregiving takes its toll on us, our performance and our health.

Often, caregivers will keep this to themselves and not discuss it with their co-workers or supervisors. Common conditions associated with working caregivers include diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, stress, depression, substance abuse, eating disorders and heart disease.

What are the top conditions your corporate clients are trying to address with their wellness programs? I would bet the list is almost identical to the list of conditions that caregiving can aggravate. 

While a wellness program is a great start, it often does not factor in the caregiver dilemma. The best corporate wellness programs are understandably ignored by working caregivers because of the all-consuming nature of the caregiving situation.

Perhaps, the biggest problem is that many people providing care don’t identify themselves as caregivers and, therefore, fail to take advantage of programs like the employee assistance program, exercise program or nutrition program that you might already have in place.

According to a survey of over 10,000 employees conducted by AGIS Network across an array of industries, 44 percent of employees indicated that they or someone in their family is currently or was recently involved in providing care for an adult loved one.

This survey was only conducted after the employee attended a seminar on caregiving and learned that caregiving really starts with the littlest of “just helping out” tasks.

So what’s the answer?…A combination of education, conversation and resources.

• Educating clients’ employees about caregiver awareness and what can help with preventing the crisis situation. 
• Equally important is the conversation about keeping the caregiver safe and healthy along with the care recipient. 
• Encouraging employees to have conversations in their families about what the family will do if a loved one needs regular care. 
• Providing tools and resources for families that take on a caregiving role.

Wellness is a great start — but, for workers involved with caregiving, adding caregiver support programs can make those wellness programs much more effective.

See also:

• Alzheimer’s caregivers beg for action
• Survey: Working Caregivers Want Time
• Caregiving Inflicts Heavy Toll On Boomers: Hartford