Work/Life Research

Employer Content

Creating A Supportive Environment

Helps with getting started. Provides a framework for designing and implementing your program.

Research and Current Thinking

A growing collection of research, white papers, surveys and studies quantifying the impact of caregiving in the workplace and providing examples of model programs.

Resources and Tools

Checklists, forms, and other resources for employers AND employees.

Research and Current Thinking

The MetLife Caregiving Cost Study: Productuvity Losses to U.S. Business

This MetLife study estimates the productivity losses to U.S. business of employees who must make workplace accommodations as a result of caregiving responibilities. Costs are associated with absenteeism, workday interruptions, unpaid leave and much more.

Click here to read the whole study.

2008 National Study of Employers

A comprehensive study of the practices, policies, programs and benefits provided by U.S. Employers to address the changing needs of today's workforce and workplace.

Click here to read the full study.

Gender Differences: Do Men and Women View Long-Term Care Differently?

The MetLife Mature Market Institute and AARP Health Care Options examine older Americans' preferences, expectations, and preparation for long-term care, and explore any gender differences in these factors.

What Employers Can Do: A Framework for Developing Your Own Programs

A Portland State University study examines how "sandwiched generation" employees cope, and what managers can do about caregiving as a workplace issue.

The result is a practical sourcebook, appropriate for any size organization, which reviews many of the options employers have, in terms of policies, benefits, and services.

Learn more about this practical (and free) resource.

Business, Caregiving, and the Bottom Line

Supporting working caregivers is smart business. More companies are doing it because of the growing recognition that caregiving can directly affect corporate earnings through its impact on employee job performance, time lost from work, and the ability to stay on the job.

Click here for Business, Caregiving, and the Bottom Line.

Previously Published Reports and Articles

The Changing Face and Changing Pace of Today's Worker: An Employer Perspective.
As more workers age and become caregivers, businesses will need to become flexible in order to maintain workers and remain productive.

A report from the American Benefits Council.

Measuring the Impact of Caregiving in the Labor Force
A study prepared by the Human Resource Institute at the University of Tampa, tries to make the subject of caregiving more visible, showing how employers feel about the subject and the steps they're taking to deal with it.

Read the full survey Measuring the Impact.

Family Caregiving in the U.S.: Findings from a National Survey

A comprehensive survey by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving finds that 23.2 percent of all U.S. households - over 22 million households - are involved in caregiving. The majority (64.2 percent) of these caregivers are employed, more than half (51.8 percent) full-time.

Read the full survey Family Caregiving in the U.S.

Additional Research Concerning Work, Aging and Caregiving

A Flexible Workforce

Flexible work arrangements are an important part of today’s employment marketplace. They accommodate a wide range of practices and lifestyles, including temporary work, employee leasing, self-employment, contracting, home-based work and part-time work.
<Click here to read more>

Caregiving in the Workplace

As parents and loved ones age, many employees find themselves in the role of caregiver to their aging family members. This caregiving role may interfere with their role as employee- through absenteeism, early departure from work, late arrival to work, personal phone calls, and emotional distraction.
<Click here to read more>

Technology and an Aging Workforce

This paper discusses the effects of America’s aging workforce on business growth and productivity and illustrates how accessible technology can equip employers and mature workers to face the challenges posed by this demographic trend.
<Click here to read more>

The Employment Policy Foundation

America’s workforce is currently facing increased responsibilities in their efforts to balance their work and family commitments. Demographic shifts have left the heart of America’s workforce–the “Baby Boom” generation–caring for their aging parents and their children at the same time. As Americans live longer, the need for eldercare will continue to grow.
<Click here to read more>

Working Caregivers

Some working caregivers find care giving a minor interlude that has positive consequences for them personally as a result of the satisfaction they experience from helping a loved one. Others discover that care giving is a complicated and difficult set of tasks that require not only personal sacrifices, but professional sacrifices as well. And others find that they cannot be successful in all parts of their lives, and their relationships, health or personal activities suffer as a result.
<Click here to read more>

Health and Safety Issues in an Aging Workforce

Along with the population as a whole, the labor force is aging. Even without a concerted effort on the part of policymakers or employers to promote longer work-lives, the number of middle-aged and older persons in the labor force will grow as the 76 million baby boomers move into and through their 40s, 50s, and 60s.
<Click here to read more>

Employer's Health Plan Cost Drivers

An informative pie-chart that clearly shows the key drivers of employers' health plan costs.
<Click here to read more>

In the Press

Caregiving resources recognized by:

Caregivers Handbook

This handy guide provides resources, checklists and worksheets
- all in one place.

Learn about the Caregiver's Workbook here.