Tug of War: Caring for Our Elders While Remaining Productive at Work

Abstract

Almost a third of the population in the United States is presently engaged in some form of eldercare, spending an average of 20 hours per week over a span of roughly five to 18 years (Smith, 2004). This burden falls most heavily on women (Bookman and Harrington, 2007), although responsibilities seem to be increasing for men (Barrah, Baltes, Shultz and Stolz, 2004). In addition to their eldercare duties, two-thirds of caregivers are employed, which may create conflict between the two roles. Indeed, surveys by MetLife (1997; 2006) indicate that productivity losses in the workplace due to eldercare responsibilities seem to be significant and growing.

Associations of eldercare and competing demands with health and work outcomes among manufacturing workers

“…Although the relationship between ECDs and caregiver health is well-established, there is a smaller body of research linking eldercare with work-related consequences, and less consensus among researchers about these outcomes (Calvano, 2013). Employees' ECDs have been self-reported as negatively associated with work performance, mainly due to psychological stress and strain (Kim, Ingersoll-Dayton, & Kwak, 2013).…”

“…For employees who stand to benefit by utilizing them, existing policies should be overtly and widely publicized within the workplace, because policies and benefits (e.g. flexible arrangements and dependent-care tax credits) designed to support employed caregivers are underutilized when employees do not perceive that organizational leaders support their use (Calvano, 2013;Kim et al, 2013;Sahibzada, Hammer, Neal, & Kuang, 2005). In fact, organizational support for family-related leave policies is a contributing factor in reducing work-family conflict (Gordon et al, 2012(Gordon et al, , 2007, and mitigates the risk of pay loss due to family caregiving (Earle & Heymann, 2012).…”

Challenges of combining work and unpaid care, and solutions: A scoping review

“…Although the knowledge base on working carers is steadily growing, there has been, to date, no comprehensive review to that end. Previous reviews have addressed specific solutions, namely workplace‐based support and technology, or looked at the challenges of combining work and caring for an older person (Andersson, Erlingsson, Magnusson, & Hanson, ; Calvano, ; Ireson, Sethi, & Williams, ). This review takes a more inclusive approach, not limiting itself to any specific solutions or age of people needing care.…”

Care roles and employment decision-making: The effect of economic circumstance

“…Population ageing is associated with an increase in the number of people with long-term health conditions and the number of Australians living with dementia will almost treble by 2050 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 2012). Similar trends have been documented in other countries (Calvano, 2013;Kotsadam, 2011). These trends are increasing pressure on the formal care sector and, due to shifts from institutional care to community care, also increasing the importance of informal care (Tolhurst, 2001).…”