The main aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between paid work and eldercare responsibilities. It is intended to produce benefits to the participants, their employing organisations and to wider society, including other employers, employee organisations, service providers and policy-makers. Potential exists for the study to assist in the development of appropriate policies and processes in relation to workers who have eldercare responsibilities and show the way for other employers.
Purpose
The objectives of the study are to –
1. Document the nature and extent of eldercare responsibilities among the workforce of two major employers with mixed age workforces in a variety of occupations.
2. To explore ways in which employees meet their eldercare responsibilities in relation to work duties and responsibilities to employers.
3. To document measures, insofar as they exist, set in place by the employers to assist employees in meeting their eldercare responsibilities.
4. To explore ways in which eldercare responsibilities could be recognised and accommodated by employers while maintaining objectives for efficient and effective workforce operations.
Key Results
The characteristics of the working carers in the two council workforces (that took part in the research) are that they are predominantly Pakeha, well educated, and in professional, technical and clerical roles. Working carers are predominantly female (72 percent), employed full-time (80 percent), and are long-term employees (average 9 years).
The care recipients are also mainly female (71 percent) and 65 percent are aged over 80. The majority of care recipients (70 percent) live in their own homes, with 17 percent living in a residential care setting, and 11 percent living in the same household as the working carer. The majority are described as family members of the working carers, with 43 percent being their mothers.
The type of care provided is most commonly social and emotional support (provided by 92 percent of the working carers), household assistance (87 percent), administrative support (72 percent) and personal care (47 percent). Female working carers provide higher levels of care, over longer hours and on a more frequent basis than do their male counterparts.
Few of the working carers taking part in this study provide very long periods of care: 84 percent provide less than 10 hours per week. However, on top of full-time work, and personal or domestic commitments, this is still significant. Three-quarters of the respondents say they have help with eldercare from other family members and/or from health professionals and community services. However, only 21 percent describe the responsibility for eldercare as shared.
The predominant method of coping with eldercare responsibilities during work hours, beyond making occasional phone calls, is to use annual leave, which 48 percent of the working carers have done at least once in the six months before the survey. Time in lieu, flexitime, and sick or domestic leave are each mentioned by 30 percent of the working carers as coping strategies which they have used.
Sixty three percent of the working carers report that they had to deal with a crisis in their eldercare situation in the previous six months, and half of these people have experienced more than one crisis. More than a third report having had time off work to deal with crises. The older the care recipient, the more likely the working carer is to have taken time off from work.
There is an inverse relationship between hours of eldercare provided per week and positive attitudes to care: those who give the longest hours of care report higher rates of negative attitudes.
The eight discussion groups which were part of this study explored in depth the ways in which eldercare responsibilities and activities relate to participants’ working lives. The discussions covered attitudes towards caring for older people; the stresses and satisfactions; the use of formal care services and levels of satisfaction with current arrangements. Participants also shared strategies which have assisted in juggling work and care, both on a routine day to day basis, and in crisis situations.
Working carers indicate that improved access to information about eldercare options in their community would assist them to manage the balance between work and care. The most commonly reported strategies for future eldercare management are community and family based, rather than related to their workplace or working conditions.
Workforce development could be enhanced by more overt discussion of the interface between paid employment and informal eldercare. While there is clear employer goodwill in the examples examined, there may be questions about fairness and equity within and across complex organisations, and about how to meet the needs of workers in sections of such organisations where flexibility is structurally difficult.