How benefits are evolving to support caregivers

Employers are adapting familiar benefits to provide more meaningful caregiver support while strengthening workforce well-being.

Panelists described ways employers are evolving to support their caregiving employees during the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s Caregiving at Work Forum.

Navigating benefits and services is the biggest challenge working caregivers face, said Jessica Fuller, health and productivity consultant with Alliant Insurance.

“It’s having a sense of where to go – and when to go - for those newly launched into caregiving,” she said.

Fuller said that over the past decade, employers have put more effort into supporting employees beyond physical health, with benefits that promote mental well-being and family health.

“I think the younger generations value those types of benefits more,” she said.

But in the past few years, higher medical costs have “put the brakes” on well-being benefits, she said. Other benefits could fill those gaps. For example, employers can offer employee assistance programs and lifestyle savings accounts to all employees, not just caregivers.

'The higher wage earners'

Caregiving doesn’t always involve caring for humans. Fuller said one employer she works with learned that half the employees using the company’s backup care program used it for pet care.

“We also learned from data that people who were using the backup care the most were the higher wage earners in the company,” she said. “Lower-wage earners are more likely to rely on family and friends in a pinch.”

Ryan Gorman of CareScout said his company did an extensive benefits survey and found that many respondents wanted their employer to offer pet insurance and legal plan assistance.

“We have spent the last six months educating our associates about going through a financial wellness journey that we hope will set them up for future success,” he said.

Caregiving was not part of the benefits conversation 20 years ago, said Katelyn Hunt, assistant vice president of leave management at Voya Financial.

“Paid family and medical leave opened the conversation,” she said. “Now we are baking things into our products to meet employee needs.”

For example, she said Voya offers its employer clients one-on-one counseling with a care advocate for employees who need help navigating care.

Employers face more pressure to understand the benefits landscape as more options become available, Hunt said.

“But it’s an exciting time because we get to come up with solutions,” she said.

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Susan Rupe is editor in chief, magazine, for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at susan.rupe@innfeedback.com.