$78 billion worth—that’s how much Australian caregivers are estimated to provide in unpaid healthcare each year. And it’s a figure that’s expected to soar exponentially in the coming decades, as the national demand for caregivers is projected to rise by 23 percent by 2030.

Needless to say, Australian caregivers work tirelessly—every day, every week, every month, and every year—to provide satisfactory care to their loved ones, friends, family members, and community members—oftentimes in addition to the 40 hours of formal full-time work that many of them are responsible for each week. As it happens, research shows that around two-thirds of caregivers are active members of the workforce. What this means for their employers is that providing comprehensive caregiver support is very much a core component of their overall duty of care.

But what does that support entail?

This is a question whose answer can only be drawn from a few different follow-up questions, chiefly, “What types of caregivers are present in my workplace?” “What are some of the unique challenges that they face—both in and out of the workplace?” “How can we, as their employer, step in and help?” and “Are there any gaps in our existing benefits offerings or support initiatives that further investment could help close?”

At the heart of these questions lies the truth that comprehensive caregiver support extends well beyond parental leave—or any leave, for that matter. For the fact of the matter is, informal care—especially in the face of today’s rapidly aging population—is largely comprised of eldercare, in addition to care for those with chronic illness or disability. That said, it’s not just parents that employers need to look out for: it’s also grandparents, aunts, uncles, sons, daughters, neighbours, life partners, friends, and the list goes on from there.

But the sad reality is that far too few caregiving employees receive any care back. According to survey findings gathered over the last year, caregiving employees are two and a half times more likely to have low wellbeing compared to their non-caregiving peers (55 vs. 25 percent), and are a staggering 75 percent less likely to report ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ health, with only 19 percent reporting good health compared to half of their peers.

This data isn’t surprising when you compare it to their experiences in the workplace—where stigma, ignorance, and prejudice prevail, and understanding and empathy remain scant. Highlighted in recent reports published by the University of Melbourne, these experiences include nothing short of being overlooked for or flat out denied a promotion or advancement opportunity; being ignored, undermined, demoted, or belittled; being ill- or mis-informed about their rights and entitlements as working caregivers; and receiving little to no support or flexibility from managers and peers.

According to the university’s findings, the overwhelming majority of working caregivers believe that their caregiving responsibilities negatively impact their career prospects, with a little less than half reporting to have worked in a job beneath their skillset as a result of undermining from leaders, and nearly two in five reporting to have been snubbed from training, learning, and upskilling opportunities needed to excel in their roles.

Further adding salt to the wound are the hurtful comments respondents report having heard from colleagues, supervisors, and even leadership—including one in which a senior leader is quoted as telling one woman, “you know, you’ve got to stop having kids so that you can have an opportunity to step up into my role,” or another in which a woman who was inquiring about leave entitlements for an upcoming D&C procedure (surgical treatment for a miscarriage) was curtly told to take sick leave (“which was so distressing because…I wasn’t sick, I’d lost the baby” the respondent shared), apparently ignorant of the three days of aptly-named “compassionate leave” allowed to employees in the event of a death, life-threatening illness or injury, stillborn, or miscarriage.

“You’re not valuable to me until you can work full-time,” “you have school-aged kids [so] we don’t think you’ll make yourself available,” and other musings on the “inconvenience” of working parents and having to accommodate part-time working arrangements are just some among many other dismissive comments that have driven at least a quarter of caregiving employees out of their organisation, and at least one in six to hide their caregiving obligations from their employer.

So, what are some ways in which employers can create a more supportive environment for caregiving employees?

Training Solutions

Judging by respondents’ testimonies, perhaps the most important component of caregiver support for employers to pay attention to may not be extensive leave policies, but culture change. There is a clear need for employees, their supervisors and their leaders alike to be educated on the needs and lived experiences of their caregiving peers, and the roles they play in shaping those experiences. Namely, this includes educating staff on the signs and consequences of things like unconscious bias, gender bias and sexist language, stereotyping, and more. It includes organizing trainings on the importance of respect and creating a culture of compassion and inclusivity at work. For managers and senior leadership in particular, this includes providing training on topics like:

• Fostering a sense of belonging
• Supporting parents and caregivers before, during, and after a leave
• Supporting breastfeeding mothers
• Supporting the mental health of fathers
• ***Leading hybrid teams—something that is especially timely as caregivers fight for greater flexibility at work, including hybrid and remote work arrangements, and especially forward-thinking, as it shifts ‘blame’ away from caregivers and instead places the onus on their employers to do better in leading productive, efficient hybrid teams

Equally essential to building that culture of care, compassion, and inclusivity are also training or educational solutions that seek to tackle internalised stigma or guilt among caregiving employees themselves. This may include learning solutions that address topics such as:

• Overcoming imposter syndrome
• Recovering from compassionate fatigue
• The importance of self-care—especially in the context of caregiving
• Overcoming parental guilt
• Building a better mindset: envisioning a path forward
• And more

Comprehensive Wellbeing Package: Mental & Physical Health Support

Which brings us to the next essential solution that employers must have in place: holistic health support. Everyone knows someone—be they a mother, grandmother, husband, brother—who works selflessly, tirelessly, around the clock to provide care for their loved ones, often sacrificing their own care in the process. It should come as no surprise, then, to learn that new survey findings reveal that over nine in 10 caregivers admit that they often neglect not just their own needs, but also their own interests and hobbies, as even more (94 percent) report that they feel physically or mentally exhausted all the time.

This is not good; it’s not good for the caregiver, nor is it good for the people they work for. Whether this pressure to overwork is due to internalised putdown from peers or zealous altruism, if a person isn’t taking care of themselves, they’re not going to be able to take care of their other obligations in the long run. That said, caregiving employees need access to benefit solutions that will put them in touch with accredited counsellors, coaches, and clinicians, who can help them to:

• Recognise the value in taking care of their health
• Promote positive coping strategies
• Practice better stress, time, and health management
• Maintain a healthy diet, weight, and exercise regimen
• Cultivate resiliency
• Adopt a positive or growth mindset
• Understand and pay attention to the mind-body connection
• Practice mindfulness and utilise breathing techniques when needed

Research has long proven that a build-up of stress can lead to chronic health conditions, like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease, digestive problems, even cancers; so again, it’s not surprising to learn that over a third of primary caregivers in Australia have at least one disability. This is a workplace issue just as much as it is a personal issue: nine times out of 10, it’s in the workplace where people learn they’re not of any value (see: quote) unless they’re stretching themselves thin for the sake of others. Especially for caregiving employees, who are accused of not being as loyal, as driven, as productive as their peers, much of their abandonment of their own needs can be attributed to this desire—or at least this pressure—to prove their worth. And the onus is on employers to convince them that it’s okay to stop, to rest, and to take care of themselves first.

Comprehensive Wellbeing Package: Practical & Professional Support

Likewise, as caregiving employees seek to balance personal, professional, and caregiving responsibilities in a society suffused with that undermines their talents and capabilities, it can be equally as challenging for them to pursue their own career goals without employer support. This, in turn, creates an uneven playing field, in which caregiving employees are passed up on for advancement opportunities, due either to employer stigma or their own internalised belief that they are not suited for higher positions.

To even out the playing field, then, employers must also invest in practical and professional support solutions that enable caregiving employees to balance their work, caregiving, and personal responsibilities; that encourage them to craft and pursue a plan for professional development and career advancement; and that truly convince them that caregiving is not a detriment to their career.

Specifically, this might include solutions such as:

• Child, dependent, and eldercare support from counsellors who can provide individualised information on home care agencies, day care agencies, assisted living facilities, tutors, in-home nurses, and more based on the individual’s locational, financial, linguistic needs and more
• Collaborative return-to-work programs that prepare employees, their teams, and their managers for the employee’s departure and reentry to ensure smooth transitions following parental, bereavement, compassionate, or sick leave
• Childcare applications that allow individuals to build their own network of friends and family members to streamline the process of securing back-up childcare.
• Subsidy assistance and apps through which employers can receive professional, outside support in managing subsidy programs like childcare support, and through which employees can more easily submit claims—an intervention that is especially important as over 80 percent of caregivers rely on paid care assistance to be able to attend their paying jobs; assistance that, in Australia, is often equal to if not more expensive than one’s own income.

Assessment, Collaboration, Communication

Finally, if employers really want to know how they can best support their caregiving employees, one of the best and simplest things that they can do is to ask employees how they want to be helped. This might include conducting anonymized organisational assessments that provide caregiving employees with the opportunity to safely raise any concerns they may have about the culture or structure of the workplace and provide ideas for potential solutions. It also means asking them directly during one-on-ones what their managers or leadership can do to support them, which may often include flexible work arrangements, which managers can then discuss with the employee and their teams to find a solution that works best for everyone, demonstrating to caregiving employees that they are not a burden, and that their organisation truly wants them to thrive and succeed in the workplace and beyond.

As all caregiving employees will inevitably have different needs, and as all organisations will inevitably have different gaps or opportunities for improvement, there is ultimately no one-size-fits-all solution to strengthening caregiver support. There is, however, one binding truth, which is that siloed approaches or single interventions are not enough; to offer comprehensive, effective support, employers need to offer a holistic suite of services that tackle “the full gamut of caregiver needs.” And doing so won’t just benefit caregiving employees, but their employers as well: for employers who invest in holistic programs, they can expect to see a 20-percent increase in retention of their staff.

That said, for employers hoping to earn such gains on their investments, partnering with a holistic wellbeing solutions provider, who can provide expert consultation in establishing an effective, personalized program, may not be such a bad idea.