By John Paul Marosy, President
Bringing Elder Care Home LLC
jpmarosy@charter.net
(508) 854-0431

"Employers, whether they believe it or not - are paying for elder care." --SHRM Report on The Aging Workforce

Recent reports - and a new book - point to an unprecedented labor shortage in the years ahead. And guess which group is right at the center of the predicted Next Big Thing to hit the U.S. economy? You guessed it: the baby boomers!

• In 2010 (just 4 ½ years away), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that our economy will support 167 million jobs but only 157.7 million workers to fill them
• There will be a relative shortage of workers in the younger ages (30-45) who would normally fill the job vacated by the preceding retirees in the baby boom generation
• Many of the workers who are available are not qualified to perform the duties required by jobs now, let alone what those jobs will become in the future, according to Herman
• As the job market heats up, we will see increased "churning," i.e. dissatisfied workers will leave jobs that they held onto during the down economy in hopes of moving on to greener pastures with another employer.

In short, employers need to take action now to keep productive workers happy and avoid costly turnover in the years ahead, thus gaining a competitive advantage in the emerging tighter labor market.

The human resource management profession is taking this situation seriously. In a 2003 report issued by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) entitled The Aging Workforce: The Reality of the Impact of Older Workers and Eldercare in the Workplace, author Nancy R. Lockwood points to ageism as one of the barriers for older workers who might otherwise benefit from the looming labor shortage. "Age discrimination is a significant barrier for many older men and women," she writes.

How do elder care concerns fit into this picture? The SHRM report points out that survey results do not concur with the commonly-held belief that older workers retire due to work/life concerns. "Rather, older workers remain in the workforce to have the financial means to handle elder care needs," says the SHRM report.

Supervisory relationships are a key "derailment" factor for older workers, according to SHRM, "resulting in their selecting retirement rather than remaining in the workforce."

The statistics quantifying the impact of unresolved elder care/work conflicts are well known, costing businesses between $11-29 billion per year in lost productivity. "Employers, whether they believe it or not - are paying for elder care… Even eldercare of one hour per week drains employee productivity, according to the 1996 MetLife study," says the SHRM report.

A Global Issue

And elder care is not just a domestic issue, according to SHRM: "From a global perspective, the literature shows that elder care is now a concern on the expatriate front and a growing international public policy issue. For the first time since its initial publication ten years ago, the GMAC Global Relocation Services in 2002 documents that eldercare issues are now a factor n whether an international assignment is accepted."

With a world-wide issue like this facing American employers, one would think that executives in the board suites around the nation would be gearing up for workplaces that are increasingly older worker-friendly. This would logically include work/family balance issues like elder care. Yet, we see that only 25% of employers with 100 employees or more have formally addressed the elder care issue by adopting policies or benefits to ameliorate the potential negative productivity impact. And among smaller employers, where the vast majority of Americans work, the percentage who are taking action is woefully small.

The handwriting is on the wall. Irreversible demographic trends assure that elder care is coming to the fore as an issue for employees. What will it take for employers, in large numbers, to begin to pay attention and seriously address the issue?

What do you think? Take a moment now to send us an e-mail with your opinion to jpmarosy@bringingeldercarehome.com We will publish your thoughts in the next issue.

John Paul Marosy
Editor and President,
Bringing Elder Care Home, LLC

John Paul Marosy is the author of Elder Care: A Six Step Guide to Balancing Work and Family, available from Bringing Elder Care Home Publishing online at www.bringingeldercarehome.com or by calling 508-854-0431.

This newsletter may be reprinted in whole or in part so long as the author, John Paul Marosy, is credited and the Web site address, www.bringingeldercarehome.com, is provided.