What makes a workplace carer-friendly?

It's good business to support staff who also have a caring role

The job with the largest number of workers in Australia is unpaid – 2.7 million people have caring responsibilities and, perhaps not surprisingly, the majority don't consider it a job. If you're a mother, father or sibling of a disabled child, or have the responsibility for a parent with dementia, it's a role that you fulfil out of love as much as duty.?

But if you put a cost value on that care provision, as Access Economics did in 2010, it comes to $40.9 billion – quite a saving for the public purse

Of those 2.7 million carers, 1.5 million are of working age and the majority – 55% – combine their caring role with paid work. Somehow, 63% of those carers manage to do that while working full-time.?

Take Kylie Ramstadius, the primary carer for her 17-year-old son who has autism. Recently she has been devoting a huge amount of time to finding somewhere her son can do some useful work that he also enjoys. 

Ramstadius's own full-time job, working in the disability sector, means she is more informed than most parents in her position about what is out there and how to go about getting the best possible outcome for her son. Even so, she gets very little support.

"First, I've struggled to find out what his interests are, what he could do and who would be willing to take him on. Until people have direct contact with someone with disabilities, they don't understand what's involved," Ramstadius says.

She tries to make sure her caring responsibilities don't impact on her work and admits she's lucky to have an employer who offers her flexibility and to work from home when she needs to.

"I hear about other carers working at organisations that have agreed before taking them on that they will be flexible, but then turn around and say that it doesn't work for them anymore. What is that carer supposed to do? Suddenly stop providing support?"

'There is support for carers but the message hasn’t got out'

TIMOTHY BROADY

Maintaining work patterns

Employees who balance paid work with a caring role at home present a special challenge to employers, as the caring role is not predictable in the same way as mainstream childcare.

Hugh Bainbridge, a senior lecturer in the school of management at UNSW Business School, has been researching the availability, utilisation and perceived helpfulness of different, alternative work arrangements to understand what makes for carer-friendly employment.

"While there is a truck load of research on how parents with young children balance their work and caring roles, there is almost nothing on what other types of carers are doing," says Bainbridge.

What is clear from past research is that carers are unlikely to maintain the same work pattern they had before they took on caring roles and plenty are forced to stop working altogether, notes Bainbridge.

Unemployment, under-employment or part-time work often means reduced incomes and leads to financial disadvantage. Essentially, caring for someone brings hardship: 65% of primary carers are among the lowest groups on the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data scale of household incomes.

Like Ramstadius, if you are a working carer, it pays to be employed in the community or not-for-profit sector. Bainbridge and co-author Timothy Broady, senior research and development officer from Carers NSW, focused on this sector for their research.

Both say they were surprised at the high level of support from employers in this sector. When carers were asked whether they felt supported at work, 75% said 'yes'.

"On the other hand, that means one-quarter doesn't [feel supported]", says Broady.

Another finding was that a big gap exists between carers' perception of what is available to them and the reality.

"There is support for carers but the message hasn't got out," says Broady. "For example, only 15% realise they could job share and even fewer, only 5%, actually do that."

Carers on low incomes and with poor English are even less likely to be aware of support services.

Accessing support

In May, the federal Budget offered some rare good news for carers of people with a disability, a chronic health condition, mental illness, a terminal illness or who are frail aged. The government intends to invest $33.7m over four years, part of which will be used to create a gateway for carers with a call centre and website.

"Importantly it is an acknowledgment that carers both need and can have access to support in their own right; not just as a by-product of the support services offered to those they care for," says Ara Cresswell, CEO of Carers Australia.

Changes to the Fair Work Act have also extended the right to request flexible working conditions to these types of carers and requirements for employers to consult with their staff before making changes to regular rosters or hours of work.

All well and good. However in its report, "Supporting Carers to Work", Carers Australia shows that even when employers offer formal provisions such as flexible working, it's not always taken up.

Almost 34% of carers say they are unable to use special work arrangements due to "work commitments". Another 25% say that the "nature of work makes using flexible working arrangements difficult". And 14.5% say the special working arrangements just aren't adequate.

In other words, if carers feel their job is insecure or that their employer is unlikely to be understanding or flexible, that is a bigger factor in their decision to remain employed at the onset of caring responsibilities than is access to support services.

"This illustrates the importance of not just having flexible provisions, but of fostering a workplace culture in which employees feel comfortable using them," says the report.

By far the biggest barrier is pay or the lack of it. To help them balance work and care, 42% of carers say they need paid leave. A little more than 24% say they need flexible hours and 13% would benefit by working from home.

'A small change in hours or flexible arrangements can make all the difference both to the workforce and to the business'

CAROLINE WATERS

The bottom line

It's in the private sector in particular where attitudes towards carers are most entrenched. But in the UK, Employers for Carers (EfC), an advocacy and lobbying group, has made a strong business case for retaining working carers. It points out the cost savings in offering flexibility as opposed to recruiting and training new staff – and the benefit to staff morale, staff engagement and productivity.

EfC also offers practical advice and tips for managers and HR staff on how to engage carers in the workforce – and they have made converts.

According to Caroline Waters, director, people and policy for BT Group, UK, "Accommodating carers isn't difficult, disruptive or expensive, it's just plain business sense – a small change in hours or flexible arrangements can make all the difference both to the workforce and to the business."

HSBC is also a company in the UK and Australia to have introduced support mechanisms, including flexible working patterns and a dedicated counselling service.

The potential to draw working carers back into employment is increasing with the advances in communication technologies and the normalisation of teleworking. Deloitte Access Economics research found that 61% of people not working and who had caring responsibilities would take up a job with their most recent employer if telework was available.

As the number of Australians taking on caring responsibilities grows, employers need to become more aware of the numbers of carers in their midst. If these working carers are to remain employed, an understanding and response to their needs has to become part of business strategy.

It's not simply the carers who will benefit; becoming a carer-friendly workplace is being seen as a key factor in improving the bottom line.