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Billions of $$ lost! 16 Billion
to be exact! Are you aware of this silent yet growing crisis in
your company?
A Seminar for Canadian Companies
Canadian companies, while struggling to remain competitive and
offer quality services and products, are now faced with a new
challenge—employees (yes, from the CEO level on down) balancing
caring for their aging parents with their workplace demands. 70%
of family caregivers in our country are presently involved in
this overwhelming ‘juggling act’. Few companies realize
the serious implications employee-caregivers have on their internal
costs and their bottom line. Still fewer know where to look for
these hidden costs. Most are unprepared; most do not address the
issue--and what we see now is only the beginning in Canada.
Data from a study by human resources firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide
(2003) estimated the annual costs to Canadian companies are $16
billion a year (Globe and Mail article, March 17, 2004)
 We
always think of caregiving as a family issue and a woman’s
issue, but we now are finding out that it is a significant business
issue too! With 1/3 of employees in Canada, already responsible
for parent care, and one in six employees indicating that they
will have to take more time off in the next two years because
of caregiving duties, it is becoming a major business concern
and destined, in the upcoming years, to become even a greater
one in our country. The major affects of caregiving on employee
productivity fall into six main categories, do you recognize any
of these?
1. Absenteeism costs
2. Replacement costs
3. Partial absenteeism
4. Workday interruptions
5. Attending to care crises
6. Management of associated employee duties
(“Caregiving for an elder parent is viewed quite differently
in the workplace
than caring for a child”)
Data from a study by Aventis, 2002--Employees with benefit
plans, that is 71% of our Canadian workforce, identified that
32% or 1/3 are already responsible for eldercare and 17% (1 in
6) have indicated ‘they will have to take more time off
in the next two years for care duties’.
Value of Employment Supports in Balancing Caregiving and Work
From National Profile, 2002, Canada
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