A benefit with intriguing potential
“The employees we worry about most are the ‘
sandwich’ caregivers—taking care of both kids
at home and their parents. They are burning the candle at both ends.”
—Lindsay Jurist-Rosner
CEO
Wellthy
By Thomas A. McCoy, CLU
Almost half of U.S. employees identify themselves as caregivers (47%), according to a recent survey by Mercer, and they devote an average of five or more hours of their time per week to providing care for a loved one. “It can include birth to bereavement and everything in between,” said Melinda Izbicki, caregiving and wellness benefits expert at Mercer.
The responsibility of caring for the youngest and oldest family members typically falls to working-age people. “We’ve always been a multi-generational society,” said Paurvi Bhatt, former CEO of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers. “Now it’s in the workplace.
“The large number of caregivers reported in studies may actually be an undercount,” she noted, “because many people don’t identify themselves as caregivers.”
Caregiving takes a toll on the health of employees, Bhatt told attendees during a recent Mercer webinar. “Out of 19 health outcomes studied by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) in 2024, 13 of them are worse if you happen to be a family caregiver.” The higher healthcare costs for caregivers “includes behavioral health, mental health and chronic illness.”
Also having a direct impact on employers is the amount of time employees spend on caregiving during working hours—arranging doctor’s appointments, providing transportation and other duties.
Some employers, as part of their benefits plans, have started addressing caregiving challenges by partnering with outside organizations to provide support for employees. Four years ago, Travelers aligned with Wellthy, a caregiving support company, to support Travelers employees’ caregiving. Since then, 15% of Travelers employees have engaged with Wellthy’s services.
“Work and life overlap so much,” said Greg Landmark, senior vice president, total rewards and people analytics at Travelers. “Five years ago, caregiving support wasn’t a common benefit. We decided to provide it because it aligns so well with our corporate purpose: taking care of our customers, our communities and each other.”
Wellthy CEO Lindsay Jurist-Rosner, explained that participating employees at Travelers and other companies they serve are assigned to a care coordinator. “This person’s job is similar to that of a financial advisor. They consult with the employee and suggest resources that will match the employee’s caregiving needs.
“Let’s say an employee is trying to decide on the right care facility for their parent to move into. We would connect the employee with a care coordinator who has expertise with this type of facility. They get to know the family’s needs and goals, set up a plan and then go about getting things done.
“That can involve lots of administrative and logistical detail. ‘What’s the right facility? How do we access financial aid to cover the cost? Will this impact their insurance coverage? Does it impact their parents’ choice of a medical provider?’ We provide guidance, but we also make phone calls for the employee—taking some of the legwork off them.”
Landmark said, “We studied 1,000 of our employees who had been assigned a customer care coordinator by Wellthy over the last year and found that it saved them an average of 30 hours of caregiving time. It’s interesting how many employees have told us how important this is, how much it has changed their lives.
“A large number of these employees are caring for people over age 80,” he explained. “We also have a sizable number of participants caring for children ages 12 and under. More women than men are engaging with the care support services, but the number of men is increasing.”
Travelers employees can have access to Wellthy’s caregiving services even if they are not on the company’s health insurance plan.
Age-wise, Jurist-Rosner said, the largest number of caregivers in the workplace has shifted from Gen-X to millennials. “The employees we worry about most are the ‘sandwich’ caregivers—taking care of both kids at home and their parents. They are burning the candle at both ends.”
Jurist-Rosner explained to a Travelers Institute webinar audience that her own caregiving journey began when she was nine years old at the time her mother was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis. “Through high school I continued to help out with her care. Then after college I moved back home to be with her.
“I would help her with dressing and a meal early in the morning, then go to my office job, and slip home during the day when she needed something. It was like a second full-time job. That went on for years and then later in my 20s and into my 30s, I made the decision to move out of the home and set up supportive infrastructure for my mom.”
That led to the hiring and firing of in-home aides, decisions about medical treatments and ultimately hospice care for her mother.
“You run the gamut of emotions,” she said. “It can be isolating, stressful and expensive, but it also was rewarding and joyful. Through the experience, my eyes were opened about how challenging it is for families like mine to manage and navigate care. It could be a parent like mine, or someone with dementia or multiple chronic conditions. It could be a kid with complex care needs or even just typical kids.
“Whatever the scenario,” she said, “we don’t do enough as a society to provide caregiving support and infrastructure for families. I got inspired to solve that, which led me to co-found Wellthy 10 years ago.” Wellthy now provides caregiving support services for more than 150 companies.
Arranging for care, whether it’s for the elderly, for youth, or someone in between, is not a one-and-done job. A person may get moved into a long-term care facility. Still, there may be an estate sale to arrange and transportation to ongoing medical appointments.
Also, Jurist-Rosner explained, caregivers can experience ongoing stress from what she calls “anticipatory grief.” It’s a state of mind as they think about a loved one’s future.
For families with young children, disruptions to regular school schedules or childcare arrangements are common. The babysitter or the child may get sick. There are school vacations. In those situations, Jurist-Rosner said, “Wellthy can provide references from our list of community childcare providers. It could be a YMCA, a Boys & Girls Club, faith-based organization, or a grad student who can babysit one day a week.”
Landmark described a common situation he has seen employees face. “The person has a parent, usually living far away, who is wondering, ‘Do I get assisted living or in-home support?’ The employee says, ‘I’ve never been through this before. What do I do?’ Often the siblings disagree about what’s the right solution.
“By having something like our caregiving program with Wellthy, it brings in the concierge (care coordinator) who interacts with everyone involved—the employee, their siblings and the person needing care. Together they come up with a solution. It creates harmony in a way that is life-changing for the employee. Naturally, they tell colleagues about their experience.”
Jurist-Rosner said, “A major driver for employers to offer caregiving benefits is getting people to stay in their jobs and be productive. The number one reason employees leave the workforce is retirement. The number two reason is for caregiving.
“So, keeping employees in their jobs and productive is their biggest return on investment.”
The author
Thomas A. McCoy, CLU, is an Indiana-based freelance insurance writer.
