The Business Case for Supporting Caregivers

As America's population continues to live longer, more professionals are stepping into caregiving roles for aging parents, partners, or other family members—often while managing rigorous careers. In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), more than 37 million people were providing unpaid elder care in the United States as of 2023, and 61% of those elder care providers were employed.

Data on Alzheimer’s caregivers offers a view on the workplace impact of these personal responsibilities. According to 2021 research from the Alzheimer’s Association, 18% of the 12 million Americans providing care to people with Alzheimer’s or dementia shifted from full-time to part-time work, 9% gave up their jobs completely, and 6% retired early. For those who stayed in the workplace, 57% had to arrive late to work, leave work early, or take time off for caregiving duties.

MaryGrace Sharp, MPH, program manager with the Illinois chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, describes this reality that many are struggling with: “You’re working full time, and then right when you come home, you’re helping care for your loved ones full time. A lot of times caregivers feel like they have to cut back on their work.”

As talent shortages continue to challenge the accounting and finance profession, certified public accounting (CPA) firms and other organizations can’t afford to overlook the growing impact of caregiving responsibilities on their employees—or the opportunity that comes with supporting them.

Organizational, Career Ripple Effects

Shannon Stone-Winding, president and CEO of the Chicago-based Black Alliance of Colleges and Employers, has witnessed caregiving trends in her work addressing corporate talent retention and recruitment gaps—and in her own life as the spouse of a disabled military veteran. “We spend so much time training and investing in our talent. They do everything right to move up in their careers, but then life changes,” she explains. “If employees leave their organizations or fields because they don’t feel like they can contribute in the same way, then all this knowledge, wisdom, and expertise get lost.”

Unfortunately, in many cases, employers don’t recognize or address the challenge—and they miss the business case for doing so. According to a 2024 “Healthy Outcomes” report published by Harvard Business School, 80% of workers acknowledged that caregiving responsibilities affect productivity, compared to only 25% of employers.

Employers also may underestimate the effects of caregiving on career advancement for employees at all levels—especially for women and mid-career professionals. According to BLS data, nearly 60% of elder caregivers are women, and almost 4.5 million people in the U.S. are members of the “sandwich generation,” those who are parenting children under the age of 18 and providing care for their own parents.

Sharp has talked with many mid-level professionals whose careers—and C-suite aspirations—stalled when their personal lives shifted: “These are talented people who feel like they can’t handle the rigor of high-level jobs while keeping up with their caregiving duties.”

Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, president and manager of the Accounting MOVE Project, an annual benchmarking initiative that uses demographic analysis and workplace culture assessments to drive greater inclusion in the accounting profession, says caregiving can have a big impact on how quickly female accounting professionals become firm partners—or if they even pursue the partner track. “Women will voluntarily take themselves out of the running for partner if they feel like they can’t perform that role at 100%, which is sad because they miss out on opportunities, and firms lose valuable employees.”

When people are forced to question whether their jobs will work with the new normal of their lives, they look for ways to transition into other options, but Stone-Winding says employers have the power to prevent that career drift: “There are solutions if workplaces are willing to approach this issue as a problem of retention.”

Expanding Awareness, Resources

Many of the workplace changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, such as remote work, virtual meetings, and reduced travel, have helped caregivers remain in the workforce. But as time goes on, many employers are abandoning these concessions at a time when tackling the caregiving challenge may actually require a continued evolution of these benefits and resources. Here are some alternative solutions for employers to consider:

• Educational offerings: Company-organized lunch-and-learn sessions and health fairs can be helpful resources. Sharp facilitates these types of sessions on a variety of topics related to Alzheimer’s, such as managing difficult conversations, early detection, care options, treatment resources, disability laws, and more.
  
• Employee wellness tools: Caregivers who are juggling many responsibilities also can benefit from resources that focus on their own well-being, such as programs and apps that promote healthy habits and allow people to connect and address personal stress.
  
• Extended leave: For caregivers and others who may need to leave the workplace but intend to return, a leave of absence can provide time to tend to a personal situation. The AICPA offers a leave-of-absence toolkit designed for employees and employers to create a mutually beneficial path for an extended leave. According to Mandy Gallagher, Ph.D., lead manager of the Diversity and Inclusion Women’s Initiatives team at the AICPA, the toolkit has generated positive feedback as a tested resource for successfully structuring a leave of absence: “Employees and managers really appreciate tips for developing a plan that allows people to come back recharged and ready to go.”
  
• Job-sharing options: Sharp also suggests implementing buddy systems and additional supervision: “If a caregiver needs to step away quickly, it helps to know someone can pick up a project where they left off.”
  
• Part-time partnership models: Although few firms offer or publicize part-time options, Buol Ruszczyk says they can have several positive effects. “A lot of times a partner or someone who’s close to becoming partner has a caregiving responsibility that arises suddenly. Rather than talking to firm leadership and asking about the possibility of a part-time schedule, they’ll just leave because they don’t realize the firm would be willing to work with them,” she explains. “But those situations also create an opportunity to split up responsibilities and allow others to step up and show that they’re ready to help out and take on more.”

Creating a Culture of Care

For organizations unsure of how best to approach caregiving challenges or provide a supportive culture, Stone-Winding suggests going to the experts: the employees themselves.

“Make space to listen so people feel comfortable sharing what they’re facing,” she recommends, noting that survey tools can help organizations gather data on what issues are impacting employees’ lives and abilities to work—and how best to provide services and support.

Buol Ruszczyk agrees and stresses that communication (both ways) is key, because employers may need to raise awareness of resources and demonstrate they mean what they say. “There’s a lot of opportunity here for organizations to prove that they listen to their people and care about what they need,” she stresses. “Employees need to see that if something happens, there’s some flexibility built in, that leaders will have their backs, and they can still advance in their careers.”

Importantly, acknowledging the personal struggles of your employees also creates loyalty over time. “We all have lives and things that pop up that we need to take care of,” Buol Ruszczyk says. “Knowing that an employer is going to be supportive when those things happen creates a loyalty that most organizations would love to have but rarely do.”

Not only will a supportive approach to caregivers improve retention, Buol Ruszczyk says it can also help employers connect with emerging talent, as younger professionals generally highly value work-life balance: “Gen Z appears hesitant to enter the accounting and finance profession after they compare it to similar industries and question whether it offers the same flexibility. We see young professionals looking for career paths that fit the lifestyles they want to have.”

Building on that, Stone-Winding says employers that offer flexibility and support will become the destination for emerging talent: “Employers that prove themselves to be welcoming and willing to evolve with their people will be viewed as places for life-long careers.”

Ultimately, Gallagher says that providing caregiving solutions should become a higher priority for employers, as it’ll stem the financial impact of staff turnover and workflow inconsistencies while simultaneously making their organizations “shining examples” in a competitive talent landscape.

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