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Caregiving is often described as a full-time job. And yet, seven in 10 working age caregivers in the US are currently employed alongside their carer responsibilities. They’re juggling daycare dropoffs with morning team meetings and taking elderly parents to medical appointments during their lunch breaks. But caregiving while employed is an exhausting load that isn’t always sustainable and can even damage a worker’s health, career, and financial situation.
Employers have an important role to play in making this balancing act more manageable. And with National Family Caregivers Month taking place every November, there's a timely opportunity to consider whether existing company policies and benefits provide enough support for employees with caregiving responsibilities.
This guide explores the challenges working caregivers face and suggests practical steps employers can take to support them throughout the entire year.
Any type of worker can experience friction between their personal and professional lives. But the following challenges are magnified for working caregivers.
Employees must often weigh up the difference between how much they earn and how much they can afford to spend on care for their loved ones. And this can be a major expense for working families, with infant daycare in the US costing an average of $332 per week, and the national median cost of adult health care standing at $95 per day.
As a result, family caregivers spend an average of 31% of their annual household income on expenses related to care, rising to 76% for those with annual household incomes below $40,000.
And the financial impact can last long after someone has finished providing care. Reduced working hours and time away from employment can have financial consequences that follow caregivers for many years to come. According to AARP research, working caregivers born between 1981 and 1985 could lose an estimated $120,500 over a lifetime, including lost earnings and retirement income.
Caregivers are often familiar with the feeling of being pulled in multiple directions. Whether it’s a child that can’t attend school due to a chicken pox outbreak or even a family pet that can’t be left alone following an operation, 65% of working caregivers have been disrupted at work because of their caregiving responsibilities.
The situation is even more complicated for nearly 17 million family caregivers who are raising children while also caring for an adult with a complex medical condition or disability. 67% of this so-called sandwich generation of caregivers have been disrupted at work as a result.
Needless to say, caregiving while working a regular job can be incredibly stressful, especially when the working day is followed by several more hours of unpaid care. According to international research from the McKinsey Health Institute, 37% of employees caring for adults report high burnout symptoms. The same research found that women caring for children experience higher levels of exhaustion than their male counterparts (43% versus 35%).
Without adequate support, the combined demands of employment and caregiving can leave employees physically and emotionally exhausted, with little opportunity to recover before the next working day begins.
Caregiving responsibilities can also limit an employee's opportunities to progress in their career. Someone who needs to leave work promptly to collect a child or care for an elderly relative may find it difficult to take on additional responsibilities or pursue a more demanding role.
According to research from SHRM, 42% of working caregivers say their caregiving responsibilities have hindered their career advancement. For some, this means turning down promotions or development opportunities because they can't accommodate the additional demands. Others may worry that requesting flexibility or disclosing their caregiving responsibilities will affect how their employer and their colleagues perceive their commitment to work.
Employers have plenty of reasons to take caregiving seriously, especially when the alternative is losing experienced employees who can no longer balance their work and personal responsibilities. Employers that offer meaningful support for working caregivers can benefit in several ways:
Employers often have positive intentions — they want to be supportive of their workers’ responsibilities, but they don’t always know how. Here are four concrete strategies you can use that will make a real difference to those juggling work with caregiving.
Traditional nine-to-five working hours don't always accommodate the unpredictable nature of caregiving. But employers can give employees greater control over their schedules through:
Even small adjustments make it easier to manage regular care commitments without constantly requesting time off. But flexibility alone won't always be enough, particularly when a family member becomes seriously ill or needs more intensive support. Dedicated caregiver leave gives employees the opportunity to step away from work for longer periods without having to sacrifice their vacation allowance.
For example, Microsoft offers eligible US employees up to 12 weeks of leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition. The first four weeks are fully paid, followed by eight weeks of unpaid leave. Microsoft also offers paid health time off that employees can use to care for ill family members.
Here at Benepass, employees benefit from a flexible PTO policy, giving everyone the freedom to take time away from work when they need it.
When defining the right approach, global employers must take care to adapt their policies to local employment laws and cultural expectations around caregiving. The types of support employees need may differ between countries, so it’s always worth involving local HR teams in designing arrangements that are appropriate for each workforce.
Managers may have a good understanding of the challenges facing working parents, but caregiving responsibilities can extend far beyond childcare. Employees may also be supporting elderly relatives or caring for a partner with a chronic illness like dementia or cancer.
Manager training can help supervisors recognize these different responsibilities and understand how they might affect an employee's working life. It should also cover how to have sensitive conversations about caregiving without assuming what an employee needs or how committed they are to their career.
HR and Learning & Development teams can develop this training internally, drawing on specialist resources where needed. Your Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provider is also a good starting point for finding out what existing training materials or guidance may already be available.
Managers can also support employees by being aware of the different types of support available within their organization, so they can direct them towards relevant resources, such as:
Regular reminders through internal communications can help employees discover these resources before they reach a point of crisis.
An employee may appear to earn a comfortable salary, but they can still struggle to cover unexpected care costs. Employers can ease this financial pressure by offering benefits that contribute directly to caregiving expenses.
One option is to offer a Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA), an employer-funded benefit that gives employees an allowance to spend on eligible expenses. Depending on how the program is designed, employees can use their funds in a variety of circumstances, such as:
LSAs also give employees greater freedom to choose care providers that suit their circumstances, rather than restricting them to a particular network.
For employers already offering a Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DCFSA), an LSA can provide additional support. While DCFSAs offer tax advantages for qualifying dependent care expenses, LSAs can cover a broader range of employer-approved caregiving costs that may fall outside those eligibility rules. This makes them particularly useful for employees whose care responsibilities don't fit neatly into traditional dependent care benefits.
Every workforce has different caregiving needs, so employers need the flexibility to design benefits that reflect their employees' circumstances.
Benepass makes it possible to offer employer-funded caregiving support through highly configurable Lifestyle Spending Accounts, with control over eligible expenses and contribution amounts. Employers can build caregiving support into a broader General or Wellness LSA, create a dedicated Caregiving LSA, or offer something specific like a New Parent allowance. These are common approaches, but employers can customize their programs to suit their workforce and budget.
Here are some examples of how Benepass customers have designed their caregiving benefits:
National Family Caregivers Month is a good opportunity to review whether your current benefits reflect the responsibilities your employees are managing outside work. The 2026 Benepass Benefits Benchmarking Report also offers some useful insights into how employers are funding their programs. The median annual employer contribution for dedicated caregiving LSAs is $1,000, although contributions range from $500 to $5,000. The report also found that median monthly utilization of allocated caregiving LSA dollars is 70%.
Ready to start supporting the working caregivers in your business? Book a demo to explore how Benepass can help you design a caregiving benefits program for your workforce.