Cost Implications from an Employer Perspective of a Workplace Intervention for Carer-Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In developed countries, population aging due to advances in living standards and healthcare infrastructure means that the care associated with chronic and degenerative diseases is becoming more prevalent across all facets of society—including the labour market. Informal caregiving, that is, care provision performed by friends and family, is expected to increase in the near future in Canada, with implications for workplaces. Absenteeism, presenteeism, work satisfaction and retention are known to be worse in employees who juggle the dual role of caregiving and paid employment, representing losses to workplaces’ bottom line. Recent discourse on addressing the needs of carer-employees (CEs) in the workplace have been centred around carer-friendly workplace policies. This paper aims to assess the potential cost implication of a carer-friendly workplace intervention implemented within a large-sized Canadian workplace. The goal of the intervention was to induce carer-friendly workplace culture change. A workplace-wide survey was circulated twice, prior to and after the intervention, capturing demographic variables, as well as absenteeism, presenteeism, turnover and impact on coworkers. Utilizing the pre-intervention timepoint as a baseline, we employed a cost implication analysis to quantify the immediate impact of the intervention from the employer’s perspective. We found that the intervention overall was not cost-saving, although there were some mixed effects regarding some costs, such as absenteeism. Non-tangible benefits, such as changes to employee morale, satisfaction with supervisor, job satisfaction and work culture, were not monetarily quantified within this analysis; hence, we consider it to be a conservative analysis.

Caregiver Employees’ Mental Well-Being in Hong Kong

“…Moreover, the positive effects of e-health interventions may not last beyond the duration of the treatment [92]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, educational workplace interventions to increase awareness and organizational support to CEs have been shown to favorably impact CEs' morale, job satisfaction, depression, psychosocial status, and self-reported health, with potential economic benefits for employers [93,94]. However, such interventions are yet to be tested in the context of Hong Kong and given the broad implications on the health of the working-age carers, older care recipients, and incentive for business to improve employee productivity and welfare, future research should actively investigate and identify effective interventions for CEs in Hong Kong.…”

Efectos del conflicto trabajo-ocio: un análisis multigrupo entre centennials y millennials

“…La generación millennial incluye a las personas que nacieron entre 1981 y 1996; la generación centennial, a los nacidos entre 1997 y 2012 (Cavazos-Arroyo y Máynez-Guaderrama, 2022). En comparación con otras generaciones, los millennials están mas interesados en balancear el trabajo y el ocio (Lu y Gursoy, 2016); sin embargo, esto se ha complicado por los cambios en el entorno laboral, incluso, muchos trabajadores se han planteado la necesidad de reconfigurar la relación trabajo-ocio (Ding et al, 2022).…”

Evaluation of a Knowledge Mobilization Campaign to Promote Support for Working Caregivers in Canada: Quantitative Evaluation

“…Given the significant impact on employees, employers, and the health care system, caregiver-friendly workplace practices are needed to accommodate carer-employees while sustaining workplace efficiencies. These practices have been shown to help enhance work-life balance and workforce retention and reduce health care costs [ 10 ]. The most common caregiver-friendly workplace practices include flexible work schedules, the ability to use vacation or paid sick leave to provide care, and job-protective leave (at periods beyond the government-mandated time frame) [ 11 , 12 ].…”