Soar to Success February 2020

Employees who serve as caregivers at home need more than an EAP. There is something missing in our employee assistance programs. Focusing on employee needs through benefits is a constant concern as well as an ever rising cost among employers. The employer’s cost rises but productivity does not rise at the same pace and inmany instances it decreases. This is happening because AMERICA is facing an elder care cliff: The time between now and when an individual is faced with a caregiving (usually accidental) crisis that alters the life of everyone involved. Everyone in this country is facing that cliff and some of us are closer to the cliff than others. Employers are facing the cliff with greater intensity and bigger risk because many business owners are caregivers themselves and many employ caregivers. When an employer misses work, his or her business suffers. When an employee misses work, the business suffers even more. EAP programs miss the boat……..HOW TO FIND & FIX IT. The benefit systems and EAP programs used in many companies lacks an effective and culturally competent elder care work place program. Many EAP programs hand a list of community resources to the employee and by the time the employee gets of duty, all social service offices are closed so that resource list is useless and that employee continues to be buried in his/her stress and no resolution to their pressing caregiving needs. Will Your Company Survive the ELDER CARE CLIFF? By Stella Nsong, RN, CMC, CDP