REWARD
Caring for carers: how can we ensure carer wellbeing at work?
One in seven people are now juggling work with caring for someone who’s older, ill or disabled. Katherine Wilson, Head of Employment and Specialist Delivery, Carers UK, considers how employers can protect working carers to ensure they’re supported to continue to work alongside their caring role
The importance of wellbeing for carers in the workplace Looking after staff wellbeing has become a top priority for employers in recent years, with an increasing number acknowledging that healthy and engaged staff are more likely to be productive and achieve much better results. Workforce strategies on mental health, for example, have become more prevalent, although for a long time the impact of mental ill-health wasn’t acknowledged in the workplace. The same could be said about the impact of caring, which is also, gradually, becoming better understood. Census 2021 data shows that around 3 million carers aged 16 and over in the UK are in paid employment. However, evidence from Carers UK’s polling research 1 and from many employers suggests that the number of working carers may be even higher – around one in seven in any workplace. The National Health Service staff survey found that as many as one third of their staff are providing unpaid care, and other public sector employers have reported that around one in four or five of their employees are carers.
“As our population ages, juggling work and care is also going to be an increasingly common experience”
Combining work and caring can be a difficult balancing act. Many of us find that we’re taking on caring responsibilities when we’re also at the busiest point of our careers, and sometimes balancing this with wider childcare or grandparenting duties too. As our population ages, juggling work and care is also going to be an increasingly common experience. Already, research shows we have a 50 / 50 chance of providing care by the age of 50, well before state pension age. And for women this is even earlier, by the time they’re 46 (compared with men by age 57). What are the impacts on employees? For some of us, caring may be about taking a disabled partner or child to regular hospital appointments, or cooking and cleaning for a parent and checking they have taken their medication. However,
for others, it can involve a greater level of responsibility, for example: l finding or co-ordinating support from health and care services l managing finances l helping with personal care needs l providing ongoing emotional support l ensuring a loved one is safe from harm. Many working carers say the pressures of caring can be as demanding as a second job. It can impact physical health, resulting in tiredness, fatigue and back pain, for example, as well as your mental health – causing stress and anxiety. Juggling this with work responsibilities can mean that carers put their own needs to one side. In Carers UK’s State of Caring 2024 Survey 2 : l over a third (35%) of carers responding said they had bad or very bad mental health l 73% of working carers said it was stressful to juggle work and care
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | May 2025 | Issue 110 36
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