Baby Boomers Overwhelmed by Elder Care: Are Companies Doing Enough to Assist?
Only six percent of employers have written policies on elder care, according to a recent New York Times article. The result is increased absenteeism, increased workday distractions and adverse effects on the health of employees who are navigating the difficult minefield of trying to care for elderly parents.
The article further notes that those companies that do offer some sort of assistance use programs modeled after child care or offer programs that are low cost such as referrals to lists of providers and unpaid leave. Sadly, these do not effectively deal with the complexity of elderly care.
According to the article:
"The distinctions between child care and elder care have become apparent as the first of the 77 million baby boomers turn 60 and their parents live past 85, joining the fastest-growing segment of the population. The most obvious is that children's schedules are predictable — a school holiday next Monday — while elderly parents' needs — a trip to the emergency room — are crisis-driven. Also, children are raised at home; an elderly parent often lives far away. Guiding the decisions of an elderly parent also requires mastery of arcane legal, financial and medical matters."
So what will happen when the Baby Boomers age and the X and Y generations are saddled with the responsibility of caring for these aging parents? Hopefully, as a society we'll have figured this out.
