Who cares?

Here at 9-2-3, we often talk about the challenges of balancing childcare with careers.  Of how flexible working can help people with disabilities to access the workplace.  About how flex can help older employees extend their working lives.  But there's another group of employees out there whose place in the world of work is also increasingly under threat.  They don't often hit the headlines - in fact, in many organisations, they might be largely invisible as a group.  But if you look up from your screen and glance around your office, the chances are that unpaid carers will form a significant minority of employees within your company.  In fact, prior to the pandemic, more than 5 million unpaid carers were juggling their caring responsibilities - perhaps for a relative, a friend, or a neighbour - with their paid employment. 

But a report from the Centre for Social Justice suggests that the future's looking bleak for this most underappreciated group of workers.  It suggests that the balance between caring and earning is becoming increasingly difficult - so difficult, in fact, that an astonishing 600 people a day are apparently leaving paid work in order to carry out their caring roles.  The report also claims that 400,000 unpaid carers resigned to care for a relative in 2021-2022, and that a further 41% of carers who are currently employed are contemplating leaving the workforce or reducing their hours at work due to their caregiving responsibilities.  They don't necessarily always want to, you understand, but the balance between caring and working is sometimes just too difficult to sustain.  In fact, the Centre for Social Justice suggests that carers would, on the contrary, often be keen to engage in greater paid employment if enough support were in place to enable them to do so.  

So what can we do to help carers to stay in the workplace and to make the current system work for everyone?  It's common knowledge that the UK care system, already creaking loudly at the seams, relies heavily on the unpaid care provided by family and friends.  It seems counter-intuitive for us to make it more difficult for members of the UK workforce to provide this care and to earn a salary at the same time.  After all, the consequences of losing our unpaid carers - both financial and logistical - are fairly unpleasant to dwell on.  But they're also incredibly serious, so perhaps we do have to force ourselves to think about them for a moment.  It's estimated that the predicted loss to the workforce of more unpaid carers in the next year will cost the UK economy £6 billion pounds in lost tax and increased benefits.  At a societal level, as well as an individual level, it feels that inaction on this issue could be really expensive.

The new Carers Leave Act may of course go a little way to reducing the pressure on carers at crunch moments, but it feels to us that it's more of a temporary sticking plaster than a long term solution.  Whilst it allows carers in certain circumstances to request up to a week's worth of unpaid leave each year, it doesn't necessarily solve the problem of how they should juggle competing demands during the other 51 weeks.  The thing about caring is that it can often be a marathon, rather than a sprint.  One week a year isn't always going to cut it. We do however think it'll be a fantastic thing if it empowers carers to speak about their caring responsibilities in the workplace, and makes them a normal part of life.  Most of us, of course, will be either the giver or the recipient of care at some point, so it seems odd to pretend that it isn't taking place.

We think that a more sustainable solution would be to work together to promote acceptance in the workplace of caring responsibilities, and to build flexibility into more employees' working arrangements.  The ability to shift the working day forwards or backwards might be the thing that makes it possible to call in and check on a relative at both ends of the day.  Job shares or remote or hybrid working could make it possible to support elderly parents living far away.  The option to work part time or compressed hours can make it possible for a family member to stay in their own home for longer in their twilight years.  And wouldn't we all want that for ourselves?  If so, then now's a great time to support that change in our own workplaces.  If you're looking for a role that can enable you to care for a relative or friend, please do call us.  We work with a wide variety of exciting and supportive organisations, who value their employees for all that they are - both at work and out there in the wider world.  We - and they - know that it's possible to do things differently.  We'd love to show you too!