Often family carers leave paid employment if it becomes too hard to combine work and care.

Employers can do a lot to ease stress, and retain valued workers who support an ill, frail, injured or disabled family member.

Keeping trained workers is important for employers.

You will have invested in your employees, and they will have developed the knowledge and expertise to drive your business forward and provide excellent service to your customers.

It makes good business sense to work to retain valuable employees even when their caring responsibilities can make it difficult to work ordinary business hours, or who need occasional time off to attend medical appointments or deal with health emergencies.

By supporting carers in your workforce, you can continue to reap the returns of the investments you have made in them.

Employees who have caring responsibilities may consider leaving if they find it difficult to balance work and care. This could be for various reasons:

An increase in their level of caring

An increase in their workload

A change in working hours, shift patterns or rosters

The start of caring responsibilities, which can be a stressful time for families

Lack of support or understanding from managers or colleagues

How to help

There are many actions you can take to support and retain your caring workers. These include having a flexible working policy, and perhaps a specific carers policy which formally recognises employees who are carers, and sets out support options offered by your organisation.

Whatever actions you take, it is essential to communicate regularly with your employees, especially to discuss their caring responsibilities.

You should establish what the responsibilities are:

New care
Short term care
Long term care
Immediate/emergency care

The nature of the care will indicate the likely impact on work, and what support options will work well for everyone.

Examples

An employee has just become a carer and needs time and flexibility to make alternative caring arrangements.

An employee has interim caring responsibilities and needs time at certain intervals, which can be accommodated in work patterns or through holiday arrangements.

An employee shares caring responsibilities with others in his family and may require reduced hours, or different shift arrangements, to accommodate the care.

Emergency circumstances can result in an employee needing short periods of time off with little notice; this may require understanding and practical support from managers and colleagues.

An increase in caring responsibilities may change an employee's personal circumstances and therefore they may need more flexibility or a change in work patterns, whether this is for a short while or for a long time.

Get involved

Work Life Care! Is a programme designed to help working carers and their employers. To learn more, phone Far North (09) 406 0412 (09) 406 0412 or email info@carers.net.nz

Helping those who work and care

The support needs of working carers vary depending on the needs of their caring role, as well as what options are reasonably practical or available in your working environment. Here are ways you could support carers in your workforce:

Promoting awareness of relevant carer policies throughout the organisation
Occupational health or HR information, advice and support specifically about carer issues

Information and guidance for managers and their workers with caring responsibilities (distributing copies of Family Care to workers who are carers, for example)

Hosting a carer network, support group, or awareness days within the organisation (once or twice a year, regularly, and/or in partnership with other employers, fellow members of your industry organisation, union, etc).