Taking care of loved ones at home need not derail job
Taking care of loved ones at home need not derail job
OHNs need to keep juggle home, work demands
An employee with an aging, sick parent or a chronically sick child may do a good job of juggling the responsibilities of caregiving and working, but there almost always comes a time when the burden is overwhelming. Employers are getting better at helping those workers out during those times of crisis, abandoning the old rule of "leave your home life at home."
"It's how we work; we work 24/7," says Kay Campbell, EdD, United States manager for employee health support and resilience at pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. "Where does work begin and home life end? There is an integratedness between work life and the rest of life."
While it's been part of the cost of doing business to bring work problems home with us, there's historically been less acceptance of bringing home problems to work. But in recent decades, with the advent of employee assistance programs and recognition of the wellness of the "whole" worker, crises such as the stress of facing the death of a loved one is considered something that can, and should, be dealt with at work as well as off duty.
Keeping balance while 'juggling'
"That need is understood today and is being addressed," says Sandi Thomson, OHN, occupational health nurse and safety coordinator for Largo, FL-based Cox Target Media. "The occupational health nurse brings a level that goes even a little beyond just providing a caring work environment, because we can do so much — one-on-one, in the home — that might be above and beyond."
MetLife insurance's Mature Market Institute has looked extensively at the challenges faced by caregivers who also are managing careers. In its 1999 study, "The MetLife Juggling Act Study" (www.caregiving.org/data/jugglingstudy.pdf), MetLife surveyed more than 1,500 caregivers and found that at the time they became caregivers to a sick or dying loved one, most underestimated the time that would be required of them and the impact of that obligation on their work.
Most of the caregivers surveyed started out providing a small amount of care, gradually taking on more and more responsibility.
Respondents expecting care to last six months or less actually spent more than a year providing care. Similarly, a majority of those anticipating one or two years of caregiving actually spent four or more years providing care.
Work schedules are compromised, with responsibilities at home possibly costing the employee promotions, business travel, and training. Overall, 40% of the MetLife survey respondents reported that caregiving affected their ability to advance in their job, and more than one in 10 said that their work was "greatly affected."
"Think about how trying to be present on your job and be productive when other things are pulling at you can be difficult," says Campbell. "So a lot of times, the occupational health nurse will be who the person seeks out as the confidential advisor about what resources are available."
While the employee might be reluctant to step forward and address the outside stressors affecting his or her work, his or her manager, and sometimes the occupational health nurse, are usually able to pick up on problems.
"A lot of times, the managers know employees are struggling, because they know the people," says Campbell. "So managers will come to the nurse, who will act as an advisor for the manager, to help them know what to say and do, and will give the manager information to help him or her work with that person."
Even when employees realize that caregiving responsibilities are affecting their job performance, they may have difficulty making time in their already overloaded schedules to seek out support for themselves.
That's another opportunity for the occupational nurse to help. While referral to a company employee assistance plan is an assumed step, the employee might not take advantage of it due to time constraints. So the occupational nurse might have to go off the formal path and on to something that works better for that particular employee.
"What we have found in recent times is that it's hard for people to get away from work for lunch programs, especially in caregiving situations, so providing programs where it fits into their day — during a lunch break, or through a teleconference that the employee can watch at his or her convenience — can work well for those people," says Campbell.
Sometimes, she says, employees who are in caregiver situations find each other. Informal support groups need not be directed by the company, but can be welcomed and encouraged.
Helping employees take care of themselves while they're taking care of loved ones at home seems to make financial sense. MetLife says that one worker in 10 reports that their work is "greatly affected" by their caregiver responsibilities, and estimates that U.S. businesses lose $11.4 billion to $29 billion per year due to caregiving, absenteeism or presenteeism (at work, but not doing their job as usual), early retirement, frequent job turnover, and lost productivity.
FMLA can help if it's used
So long as the person being cared for is a direct relative of the employee, the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) can apply and be a boon to the caregiver, providing them up to 12 weeks of job protection should they need a leave of absence due to injury or illness. But the FMLA is of less use when the person being cared for is not a direct relative.
And sometimes, even when the FMLA could save the employee a lot of stress and juggling of time, it's not taken advantage of.
"I find I have to encourage them to take FMLA," says Thompson. The same applies to employee assistance programs — the employee, focusing on the person he or she is caring for, may be unable to see himself or herself as in need of help.
GlaxoSmithKline has been teaching employees how to be more resilient, even those who are not facing a demanding caregiving situation.
"It's based on the premise that all of us are stressed," says Campbell. "We teach them how to juggle better, how to be flexible optimists, and how to manage themselves."
Caregiving responsibilities often take a toll on the health of the caregiver. Almost three-quarters of those responding to the MetLife survey said caregiving had a negative impact on their health, with more than 20% reporting significant health problems.
"The key to helping employees keep themselves well in these situations is establishing a rapport with them, so they see you as someone who cares and is there for them no matter what their crisis is, and then they'll come," says Thompson.
Campbell says the occupational health nurse will frequently find himself or herself acting as a health care advocate, answering questions about the employee's health care benefits and about the health care system, which some employees find mystifying.
"[Helping employees who are facing end-of-life and other lengthy caregiving situations with loved ones] is something we are going to see more and more of," says Campbell. "It's not only because we have an aging population, but more so because people are seeing that the workplace is a major part of our lives, and it's the place — or one place — where you should be addressing these things."
[For more information contact:
- Mature Market Institute, MetLife. 57 Greens Farms Road, Westport, CT 06880. E-mail: [email protected]. Studies on end-of-life issues and caregiving available at www.maturemarketinstitute.com.
- Kay Campbell, EdD, U.S. manager for employee health support and resilience, GlaxoSmithKline. Phone: (919) 483-2185.
- Sandi Thompson, OHN, occupational health nurse and safety coordinator for Cox Target Media, 8605 Largo Lakes Drive, Largo, FL 33773. Phone: (727) 399-3000.]
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