Delphine Carter is the Founder and CEO of Boulo, a recruitment platform that connects companies with exceptional candidates.
There’s a ground shift happening in our workforce with ties directly to employee performance, job satisfaction and job loyalty: It’s the growing recognition of caregivers.
Employers got a glimpse of their employees’ lives over Zoom calls and other pandemic workarounds―and what they saw was caregiving in action. Parents juggling daycare and school. Adult children helping their aging parents. Late-night grocery shopping. Trading daytime hours for late nights of work.
These previously hidden second-shift schedules involve complex logistics that stretch the limits of time management. Yet it should look familiar; nearly 75% of employees have caregiving responsibilities outside of work.
Meeting the dual demands of work and life isn’t easy, and many of these employees have reached a point where they (very literally) can’t do more…cue the quiet quitting, the “Great Resignation,” record stress and career burnouts. It’s up to employers to make a change―and culture is the sweet spot, making life at work better for all employees.
What will your organization do to care for caregivers? Here are a few ideas.
Provide options.
One of the most effective ways to support caregivers―women and men―is to offer them flexibility around when and how they work. These policies offer options for:
• Location: Work being done remotely or a hybrid of remote and in-office.
• Schedule: Work done outside of the traditional 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or M-F work week while also encouraging availability during the core hours that span all U.S. time zones.
• Hours: Job sharing or part time for those able to work under 30 hours a week.
• Culture: Measuring success by reaching goals versus time in the office.
For too long, the question has been: Why should employees have access to flexibility?
We should be asking: Why shouldn’t they?
There’s no business imperative for making employees feel guilty about taking care of their families or having outside interests. However, there is significant research showing that flexible work options enhance job performance with a positive impact on the bottom line (well covered in this Forbes article).
Measure what matters.
Glancing around an office is a lazy way of measuring employee value―it doesn’t account for whether employees are actually working or the value of their contributions.
The answer: cold hard facts.
Being flexible doesn’t feel so risky when there are concrete ways to measure each employee’s success. Some great frameworks for this include EOS, Key Performance Indicators and Objectives and Key Results. With actual metrics in place, you won’t have to worry when a team member heads out the door at 4:30 p.m. because you’ll know she increased inbound leads by 50% this quarter.
Redefine being a professional.
Startups, tech and creative companies have helped broaden society’s ideas about what a leader can look like. However, we still have room to evolve what constitutes being a professional. Does a professional have a narrow career path that shows progression? Sixty-four percent of women have gaps in their resumes, and an increasing number of younger employees take time off of work to pursue personal goals or change careers. Does a professional have hard skills? A McKinsey survey shows that skill-building is common practice and, in many roles, it’s social and emotional skills (that come from life experiences, including caregiving) that elevate top performers.
Expending effort to determine what is needed to be successful in a position can help identify and remove biases in hiring and performance assessments. It can also promote an inclusive space where a variety of leadership styles and backgrounds, as well as diverse racial, ethnic and gender identities, are more typical.
Eliminate micro frictions.
Micro frictions are things everyone finds annoying but have far more impact on some than others. Recognizing and fixing a few micro frictions that impact caregivers (remember, 75% of your workforce) can make great strides towards having a more supportive and inclusive culture without making a monumental shift in policy. Consider a few of these examples.
• How do you celebrate as a company or a team? Happy hours and dinners force caregivers to choose between celebrating with coworkers and family responsibilities. Instead, consider hosting an all-hands breakfast or celebratory lunch.
• How do you acknowledge commitment? If you mention that Joanne is answering emails at 6 a.m. or Larry stays in the office until 7 p.m., don’t think that other employees won’t take notice when those “superstars” walk around the office to chat, scroll social feeds during meetings or shop on Amazon. Use care when you verbally express what hard work looks like.
• Can you talk about personal passions comfortably? From kids and sports to hobbies and volunteering, everyone from the top down should normalize sharing their personal passions as part of who they are at work and what they bring to the table. If you’ve been holding back, go ahead and share a relatable story about your family or weekend plan and ask others about theirs.
• How do you mentor? To help caregivers understand how to navigate orthodontist appointments, carpool failures and after-school activities, pair a caregiver with another successful caregiver.
• How do you reward employees? Consider what caregivers might need to make their work life easier, from drop-in eldercare to Instacart grocery deliveries to a house-cleaning or laundry service.
Caring for the caregivers on staff not only increases their job satisfaction but also creates a workplace culture that is more empathetic and accommodating for all employees. Employers hold the key to creating policies and options that reduce friction and improve productivity―which goes a long way toward driving employer loyalty.
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