As many as 75% of Americans work full-time jobs while caring for family members at home, including aging parents, young children, or both. These employees face stressors that impact their health and, in turn, the businesses where they work. How exactly does the emotional toll of caregiving impact these employees? And how does this affect the way we do business?
Employers must understand the impacts of caregiving on both a macro and micro level, so we decided to ask Danika Mills, the Head of Care Operations at Grayce, to weigh in. In more than 20 years of working in digital and public health and as a board-certified case manager, Danika has seen a lot.
If you would like to hear more of Danika’s thoughts on employee wellness, she discusses the topic in depth in our new webinar, “The Future of Employee Wellness.”
Q: How does the emotional toll of caregiving impact business?
I explored this topic in a recent webinar with the Greater Philadelphia Business Group of Health as part of their Future of Employee Wellness Event. I shared that 79% of caregivers report increased stress levels as their caregiving duties increase. They are 64% more likely to have depression and 60% more likely to be anxious. When you do some simple math, this indicates that a clear majority of American workers are feeling the physical and mental health effects of family caregiving.
This mental and physical effects of caregiving impact every aspect of workplace culture. According to Harvard Business School, nearly 80% of caregivers feel that caregiving results in a significant loss in productivity. Employees who provide family care are more likely to miss work, and more than a third of these employees have left a job due to the impact of family care on their emotional and mental health.
When Grayce investigated this further for our Employer Guide, we found that this loss of productivity, combined with increased absenteeism and turnover, costs employers more than $44 billion a year.
Q: Employee well-being is rapidly declining. Why is this?
Employees struggle at work for all sorts of reasons. Factors like increased workloads, threats of layoffs, the political climate, or market volatility often cause them to feel anxious and stressed, leading to declining health outcomes.
Recently, however, we’ve noticed some changing trends. Social Determinants of Health have played an outsized role in employee wellness. A Deloitte Survey found that 52% of employees regularly feel exhausted, and 49% regularly feel stressed. According to the World Economic Forum, this represents a sharp increase, with stress, anger, worry, and sadness all increasing each of the last four years.
It’s hard not to see a connection to expanding employee caregiving responsibilities outside of work. The average number of hours employees spend caring for loved ones has increased a stunning 290% since 2020 from 9 to 26 per week. Our research for our Employer’s Guide to Family Caregiving showed this growth has contributed to growing rates of stress and anxiety and an overall decline in employee health outcomes.
Q: How can employers better support their employee caregivers?
Employers can best support employee caregivers by meeting them where they are. We are in a care crisis, and the gap between the number of people needing care and those who can provide care is currently 3 million, and it’s rapidly growing.
Caregivers often feel overworked and overwhelmed. Employers can mitigate these emotional effects of caregiving through intentional and focused support solutions. Usually, employers attempt to alleviate the strain by offering added employee benefits. More than half of companies report having between 4 and 9 point solutions. Many have more! I’m aware of one company offering as many as 23!
It’s great to offer benefits that address employee health and well-being, but more isn’t always better. Instead of adding more solutions, I recommend that companies consider offering intentional, holistic employee benefits that address the pronounced needs of their employees.
Q: Why do many employee health and wellness solutions fail?
Many of the solutions (like Employee Assistance Plans or EAPs) that employers adopt to support employees are limited or one-size-fits-all. They offer automated support, time-bound coaching resources, or pre-set referral lists without considering the individual and growing needs of their workforce.
These solutions also often rely on the employee to do the heavy lifting. Because of this, EAPs and similar solutions are frequently underutilized, as overworked, stressed, and overwhelmed employees simply don’t have the bandwidth to follow through.
At Grayce, we use a social care model to create an individualized experience for each employee’s family care needs. Our platform offers employees access to a master’ s-level social worker who pulls in resources from multiple sources, including the community and the employee’s benefits, to build a customized care plan. Then, they help them execute the plan, overcome any hurdles they face, and offer solutions when new needs arise.
This personalized, hands-on approach leads to improved utilization and outcomes. (Our own Grayce data points to a 70% improvement in focus and a 38% decrease in attrition after adopting a social support solution.)
The Care Crisis Doesn’t Have to Impact Your Business
Reading about the emotional toll of caregiving can cause anxiety in itself– but the current care crisis and its impacts don’t have to hurt your business. Even as we face a care crisis as a country– and the number of people who require care is growing– there are solutions.
Grayce supports the full spectrum of family caregiving challenges so employees can be their best selves at home and work. We recognize that caregiving needs are diverse, so our solutions address everything from episodic to complex care. Employees with Grayce say they feel better supported (85%), they’re more likely to stay at their jobs (85%), and they enjoy renewed focus (70%).
Let us know in the comments some of the creative ways you’re working to improve employee wellness in 2025 and beyond.