Tuesday 11 December 2007

Trade secrets: supporting carers in the workplace

Full Article and Credits:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0685.htm
At some point in our lives more than half of us will become carers, whether it be for parents, a partner, family member, friend or child with special needs. What can employers do to help?
Endless energy, the ability to stay calm under enormous pressure, to make good decisions, juggle dozens of tasks, work independently and remain motivated. The perfect person spec? Perhaps, but what it actually describes are just a few of the qualities required to survive as a carer.
No wonder then that employers are beginning to look at how they can support the UK's estimated six million carers, many of whom are trying to hold down a job while looking after a parent, partner, relative, friend or child with special needs.
Factor in statistics which show that at some point in our lives more than half of us will be carers, and it's clear that, as we continue to live longer and work longer, there's an increasing need for business to embrace carers' needs as part of their efforts to encourage work-life balance.
No organisation can easily afford to lose that number of staff, especially as many of those will be aged between 45 and 64, and likely to be the organisation's most experienced employees.
First, recognise your carers
Thinking about how to care for carers in the workplace is a relatively new phenomenon, but in the last few years a slow trickle of legislation has begun to flow - most recently, the Work and Families Act, which places a statutory responsibility on employers to consider any request from carers who ask for flexible working.
As with most employment law, it tends to fall into the laps of human resources professionals to interpret such legislation, and ensure understanding and compliance across their organisation. But even as they do so, they face the same major challenge as any of the statutory and voluntary agencies supporting carers - finding out who the carers actually are.
That isn't only because many don't want their employers to know the full extent of their home responsibilities, in case it calls into question their commitment, or suitability for promotion. In many cases, carers fail to recognise themselves, and their need for extra support to 'keep all the balls in the air'. Often, it is only when the burden becomes so great that their health or wellbeing is at risk do they acknowledge the caring role, and by then many will have chosen to give up working altogether, since they cannot give up the relationship with the person they are caring for.
Over and above ensuring their organisation adheres to both the letter and the spirit of legislation, it is in raising awareness of the carer's role, creating a culture in which carers are able to identify themselves and feel comfortable about accessing support, that HR professionals can make the biggest difference.
Leaflets, posters advertising local support services, lunchtime sessions run by health and social service professionals who support carers, a small library of books that carers can borrow to help them fathom and access the myriad of health, social and voluntary services that can help with some aspect of their role, are all ways in which HR can begin to create that culture of awareness and acceptance.

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