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

Donna Wagner, Ph.D., is Director, Gerontology Program, Towson University, and author of several ground-breaking studies on elder care in the work place.

JPM: What trends are you seeing in the provision of workplace supports for elder care?

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DW: Preliminary data from recent studies indicate that people at work who have access to elder care programs are not using these services. Only about one to four percent of employees make use of elder care supports. Since about 11-15% of employees are dealing with elder care at any one time, this is a small proportion.

Also, younger workers today have a much different sense of entitlement about benefits and programs having to do with work and family programs. Today's younger workers have started their work lives with more laws protecting their privacy, with less of an adversarial feeling about their relationship with their employers - compared to the baby boomers, for example. This will increase the demand for work-life benefits as time goes by.

Elder care has never been developed based on demand. That's one of the things that differentiates it from child care. We haven't seen a high level of demand from workers. It's been driven more by concerns on the part of the employer.

JPM: When it comes to supports for employed family caregivers, do we know what really works and what doesn't work?

DW: We don't have the research that compares the effectiveness of different elder care support models. We are just getting underway with this type of research now.

Decision support services, like providing employer-paid care management, seems to be the cutting edge today. Elder law consultation is another example. These services allow employees to tailor individual responses, to deal with their situations on an individual basis.

JPM: Some people say the real action today is at the local level, not in corporate headquarters. What do you see happening with local agencies and employers?

DW: I've been a little disappointed with the lack of success that local agencies have had in dealing with employers. I've always been an advocate for the Area Agency on Aging network and have seen them as the logical group to enter into contracts with employers. However, many companies are national or international in scope and, thus, it seems easier for them to deal with big vendors rather than community providers.

There are some interesting models that have worked. The Atlanta and the New York City Area Agencies have been pioneers in this. One successful approach is to simply get out there and meet human resources leaders at employers and let them know what you offer. Maybe do some value-added things that can lead to a relationship. For example, a company may have a contract with a national work-life vendor. That doesn't mean the local agency can't add other services, like educational programs drawing on local resources. It takes some effort.

JPM: What do you see when you look into your crystal ball Future Prospects

DW: More companies will be involved in elder care. We may find a model that works well for small to medium sized companies that haven't been involved with the issue.

I am really excited about the California experiment with paid family/medical leave. If you're going to put your money in one place, how about paid family leave? I think a lot of states are going to follow in California's footsteps. Several states now are actually exploring it. This is an important issue for the family caregiving coalitions forming around the country. However, caregivers, as a group, don't self-advocate. They rely on advocacy groups to do it for them. They're busy. They're working.

As we learn more about family caregivers, it's important for those of us who are advocates to remember that we don't know everything. Families are going to take care of the things they want to, regardless of how we want them to do it. Caregivers are not going to give up their jobs. We need to continue to monitor them and look at what they need now. We mustn't be too quick to assume that we know what they need. We need to continue to listen to them.

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. Visit www.bringingeldercarehome.com or call or email today to learn how your organization can offer this effective resource: (508) 854-0431 or jpmarosy@bringingeldercarehome.com

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