The "S" is fashionable in corporate discourse. In addition to themes such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), others related to employee well-being are also being invoked. Recognizing the existence of informal caregivers among their employees is an unusual topic. Yes, but today it is the subject of an article in the Financial Times, under the title of the plight of "hidden" carers in the workforce.
In Portugal, there are an estimated 827,000 informal carers. 827 thousand. And what are informal caregivers? They are people who regularly or permanently look after another person or people who are in a situation of dependency. With these figures and this definition, it's easy to see that there are a number of workers in companies and other organizations who are informal carers. The involvement of these caregivers in care, while not full-time, because they have a profession, can be for a number of hours in their working week, extra professional hours, weekends and vacations.
Most companies in Portugal don't know how many workers provide informal care. They don't know because the workers themselves hide this reality for fear of being penalized at various levels. These fears are understandable. The organization where they work needs to have a healthy culture, where dignity and care for others prevail; and, therefore, that managers know how to deal humanely with their employees who have these challenges.
It's important for companies to recognize the existence of this reality within their doors, in a context where they often have difficulty finding qualified workers, and it is relevant to preserve the ones they have. And it's important to speed up the implementation of a policy to support care workers. Because these workers will be there, in the organization, every day, whether or not the organization knows the challenges that person deals with every day.
"It's important for companies to recognize the existence of this reality within their doors, in a context where they often have difficulty finding qualified workers, and it is relevant to preserve the ones they have."
So what can companies do? Among other things:
- Know the reality, i.e. know how many and who the informal workers are in the organization;
- Design a policy to support these informal workers;
- Disseminate the policy clearly and widely;
- Train managers and other workers in health literacy and in the concrete reality of the demands a care worker faces.
The policy can cover more or fewer dimensions. The Financial Times article mentions a large British company that gives 10 extra days off to workers who are informal caregivers. Other possibilities include, for example, implementing flexible working hours for these workers, promoting the creation of an internal sharing group for informal caregivers, providing specific training that is useful for informal caregivers when carrying out the specific care they provide, supporting them in resolving legal issues and accessing the necessary support for the specific care situation that the worker provides.
Most likely, each of us will be a caregiver or a care worker in the future. In one position or another, we hope to have conditions that guarantee us dignity.
What is the first step in your organization?
