Strategic and holistic employee benefit packages can support the unique needs of your employees. When designed with well-being in mind, employee benefits can boost productivity and engagement, reduce operating costs, and bolster the success of your organization.
It’s essential to ensure your benefits work together synergistically. If you’re considering offering a family caregiving benefit, you’re probably wondering how this new benefit will fit in to your benefits package.
Apart from providing personalized and comprehensive caregiving support, family caregiving benefits can increase engagement with your full suite of benefit offerings, thus improving engagement and benefits ROI across the board.
Intrigued? Continue reading to discover how caregiving support can integrate with (and increase the impact of) other common employee benefits:
Medical Insurance, Plus Dental and Vision Coverage
Caregiving can be a time-consuming and stressful experience. In fact, on average, caregivers spend 23.7 hours per week providing care and 49% of caregivers experience exhaustion. It’s hard and time-consuming to take care of yourself!
When your employees have the caregiving support they need, they’re better able to take care of themselves preventatively, saving your company thousands of dollars in healthcare, dental, and vision costs.
Mental Health Benefits
There’s a clear connection between caregiving and mental health. For example, according to a Blue Cross Blue Shield report, 57% of caregivers are facing clinical depression & anxiety.
The stress, strain, work, and worry associated with family caregiving can really take a toll on someone’s mental health. Supplementing family caregiving support with comprehensive mental health care coverage has synergistic effects that will improve employee well-being across the board.
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)
EAPs can offer great support across a wide variety of challenges. Many even offer eldercare or childcare support. However, because EAPs do so much, the depth of knowledge, expertise, and coordination they’re able to offer is limited. So, combining the resources of an EAP with the specialization of a family caregiving support benefit can be a great recipe for covering all your employees’ needs.
Wellness Stipends
Wellness stipends provide a wonderful opportunity for your organization to show you care deeply about the well-being, happiness, and stress levels of your employees. Examples of experiences or services that could be covered by a wellness stipend include access to a meditation app, subsidized gym or studio membership, reimbursements for massages, fitness trackers or home exercise equipment, and much more.
Because caregivers spend so much time caring for others, it’s important for them to carve out time to fill their own cup! Offering a wellness stipend can empower caregivers to care for themselves, increasing their feelings of loyalty and respect.
Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)
Offering FMLA to parents is a great way to support your employees as they enter a new caregiving phase of their lives! However, FMLA doesn’t just apply to childcare. 1 in 5 full-time workers is a caregiver, providing care on a regular basis for a loved one who is aging or has a serious illness, developmental disorder, or disability. Many caregivers must go to part-time status or quit altogether due to caregiving responsibilities, underscoring the need for greater caregiving support in the workplace.
Some organizations have even started offering “care days” to be inclusive of all reasons an employee might need to take time off to care for a loved one.
We’d love to partner with your organization to provide (much needed) family caregiving support. Homethrive’s family caregiving benefit, Dari, can be implemented efficiently and effectively, providing maximum return on investment from day one.
To learn more about supporting family caregivers, check out more resources on our website. To receive insights delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our weekly newsletter!
