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The biggest challenge facing people-management today and in the 21st century isn’t childcare—it’s eldercare. As a full third of the population enters middle age, their parents are entering later life. People in later life need more healthcare, more assistance getting around, more help about the house . . . and these duties invariably fall to the adult children. The problem is that most of those adult children are employed full-time and have no time during the day to arrange doctors’ appointments and home visits, provide driving services, or run to mother’s house in an emergency. Moreover, people with elderly parents have very likely been in the workforce long enough to be in a position of responsiblity and high pay—making it even more difficult for them or their employers to afford time off or interruptions. These are also the same people with children of their own at home, usually teenagers, and many other responsibilities that take up their off-work hours.

“Hidden absenteeism” equals hidden cost

It isn’t easy to identify and measure the cost of eldercare to business. Many employees, afraid of damaging their standing within the company, don’t report unusual absences or interruptions as eldercare-related; they are attributed to personal illness or childcare. Apparently, though this attitude is slowly changing, it is not yet fully acceptable in corporate Canada to miss work due to an ailing parent, although caring for a sick child is rarely questioned. As much as it remains out of the spotlight, however, absenteeism and interruptions at work due to eldercare are a cost, one that studies show is ready to skyrocket. Smart managers are doing something about it NOW.

A confidential survey done by Complete Geriatric Care at a major financial services company in 1990 showed that, at that time, more than 21% of respondents considered themselves caregivers. As a result of the stress, 30% of that group reported frequent headaches; another 30% complained of either drowsiness or insomnia; another 19% answered yes to nervousness, and 22% answered yes to weight gain or loss. The alarming statistic uncovered by the study was the average number of work days missed during the six months before the survey: more than 3 days per person, on average. For this particular corporation, even using the very conservative figure of $16 per hour, that translated to a cost of $60,000 during the period, or $10,000 per month. And that’s only from the people who responded to the survey.

Easing the burden on the employee—and the bottom line

The Complete Geriatric Care has provided total solutions for employee eldercare problems since 1986. Our menu of available services includes:

• Confidential surveys—to determine current impact
• Caregiver “fairs”—employees can learn what’s available to them
• Seminars and workshops
• One-on-one counselling

Pricing is flexible, available at an hourly rate, set fee per person, or set fee per day/event. Counselling services are available on retainer and can be negotiated according to number of people or hours purchased. See our list of seminar and workshop options for more details, including pricing.

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