A recent article on Benefits Pro details a Homethrive2021 Employee Caregiving Survey that found that two-thirds of respondents stated that expanding access to home-based care for the elderly is important. In fact, this ranks higher in importance to middle-class employees than free pre-kindergarten and childcare assistance programs.

Companies will pay the various hidden costs if they do not provide eldercare support to their employees through employee mental health issues, turnover, and substantial productivity costs. In the face of these challenges, 79 percent of employers still are not offering or communicating about their eldercare benefits.

As the large baby boomer generation continues to age and the trend toward remote working continues to grow, the demand for eldercare as a voluntary benefit grows as well. A majority of poll respondents said corporate leadership was not as supportive as needed about their eldercare responsibilities, leading to 43 percent of respondents saying they are distracted, worried, or focused on caregiving five or more hours per week. And, one in five said they were distracted at work more than nine hours per week.

Additionally, almost 40 percent stated that their manager was not aware of their eldercare responsibilities or they were unsure if they were aware. Regardless, one-third of poll respondents said that their leader had noticed some stressor was affecting their job performance.

But this may all be about to change as in a survey of employers earlier this year, more than three-fourths said that eldercare will be a growing issue for their employees over the next five years.

Read more on Benefits Pro: Concerns over eldercare beginning to show up in workplace

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