Build a Friendly Culture
BUILD A FRIENDLY CULTURE
Work to create a supportive and inclusive workplace culture around caregiving through open discussions and education. Allow people to share if they feel comfortable, but do not force anyone to share and do not disclose any information an employee shares with you in confidence. This section includes guidance on how to educate your employees about caregiving.
Develop Guidance Around Caregiving
Employers who have thought intentionally about how to respond to employee caregivers create a more supportive, inclusive, and flexible workplace environment for caregivers. This positive environment is the foundation of a caregiver-friendly culture. Guidance around caregiving has the following effects on the workplace:
Improve Transparency
Increase in communication and transparency between employers and caregivers.
Increase Morale
Increases employee morale and promotes fairness in the workplace.
Create Structure
Provides an excellent structure and foundation for workplace policies.
Develop a shared understanding with an employee who has caregiving responsibilities
Step 1.
Sit down with your employee-caregivers to discuss the nuances of their situation, being transparent in your ability to support their caregiving responsibilities.
Step 2.
Encourage your employees to propose possible solutions. Build an agreement that incorporates strategies such as telecommuting, flex-time, and leave, when possible, in order to provide caregivers with the flexibility they need to be successful at home and at work.
Step 3.
Be clear about your expectations for employees to take advantage of these policies or provide notice of leave, and explain any limitations on your ability to offer certain benefits.
When caregivers understand the tools available and what is expected of them, they are more productive, less likely to turnover, and have a strong sense of stability and security.
Show Your Employees that you value the joys and challenges of caregiving
Caregivers represent a unique subset of employees who bring their own set of skills and challenges to the workplace. Embracing the skills and challenges of these employees can build a more inclusive, supportive and productive workplace.
Share personal and employee stories of caregiving
Tell personal stories of how caregiving has impacted you or your family. By sharing your story, it will encourage your employees to share their own stories, raising awareness of the impact that caregiving has on everyone's lives.
A workplace that encourages employees to speak openly about the joys and challenges they face as caregivers helps other employees understand their experiences. You can help start the conversation by being the first one to discuss both the joys and challenges you have faced.
Utilize the skills of caregivers in the workplace
Caregivers are often skilled multi-taskers, incredibly organized and empathetic, and adaptable to new challenges as the conditions of their loved ones change and evolve. Employers can take advantage of these skills that caregivers have and utilize them in the workplace.
Prioritize naming a caregiver-friendly workplace as a top value
Naming this as a priority for your business shows employees that you value their personal experiences. This increases a sense of stability and security for caregivers in the workplace, which can help retain employees who know they will have support at work. Additionally, showcasing this value as a top priority can increase recruitment efforts as employees increasingly value employers that clearly support caregivers.
Educate all employees about family caregiving resources
It is crucial to share knowledge, resources, and tips on caregiving with other employees. By talking with all employees, non-caregiver employees will understand more clearly what it means to be a caregiver, how to best support their colleagues, and will be prepared if they become a caregiver as well.
Sponsor a caregiving expert to conduct an information session
Host a local expert to speak about caregiving topics, like financial and legal aspects of caregiving, or how to find community resources. Sessions like these allow employees to increase their knowledge about caregiving and provide an opportunity for employees to ask questions to better inform their ability to interact with, learn from, and support their colleagues.
If there is no local expert in your area, bring your employees together to watch a video from an expert. While not as impactful as an in-person session, these educational videos give employees a base understanding of caregiving.
Hold brown bag lunch & learn sessions on caregiving
Brown bag sessions encourage employees to discuss caregiving openly with each other. These sessions allow employers to hear how their employees think about caregiving and talk about it with their colleagues. Open forums like these encourage discourse that creates a more inclusive and supportive workplace.
Organize employee support groups around caregiving
Support groups for employee-caregivers create a unique space for these individuals to discuss their experience providing care for loved ones, as well as the challenges that come with being a part- or full-time employee on top of being a caregiver.
Organizing these sessions demonstrates to employees that you support their situations and want to provide space for them to connect with those in similar circumstances. These support groups can be run and operated by the employees, but employers can take the first step by bringing employees together for an open dialogue.
Share resources with employees about the caregiving crisis
Point employees to information about the caregiving crisis so that they can have a better understanding of the impact that caregiving has on the workplace and the economy.
Through education about the caregiving crisis, employees will have important context to understand why there is a need to have a supportive workplace around caregiving.
