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How to Improve Work-life Balance for Caregiving Employees

July 29, 2024 / 33:06

This episode covers the challenges faced by caregivers in the workplace, featuring guests Jennifer Andrews from Guardian Life and Dr. Ellen Ernst KK from Purdue University. They discuss the findings of Guardian's report on caregivers, the impact of caregiving on employees, and the need for supportive workplace policies.

Jennifer Andrews shares insights from Guardian's report, highlighting that 70% of workers have caregiving responsibilities, the stigma associated with being labeled a caregiver, and the negative effects on mental and physical health for caregivers. She emphasizes the importance of employers recognizing and supporting this demographic.

Dr. Ellen Ernst KK discusses her research on family policies for caregivers in STEM fields, noting that the pandemic made caregiving responsibilities more visible. She outlines key takeaways from her reports, including the need for equitable workplace policies and the importance of supporting caregivers as a strategic investment.

The conversation also touches on the need for organizations to adapt to the growing number of caregivers and the necessity of integrating work-life support into company culture. Both guests agree that understanding and supporting caregivers is crucial for employee retention and organizational success.

Overall, the episode highlights the urgency for employers to implement effective policies that address the complexities of caregiving in today’s workforce.

TL;DR

Caregivers face significant workplace challenges; employers must adapt policies to support them effectively.

Episode

33:06
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[Music]
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this podcast is brought to you by knowah
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[Music]
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warten hello my name is Stephanie K and
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I'm an assistant professor of management
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at the Wharton School of the University
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of Pennsylvania and I'm delighted to
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welcome you to today's episode of the
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knowledge at Warton leading diversity at
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work podcast series which is focused on
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supporting caregivers in the workplace
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joining me today are two very special
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guests first we have Jennifer Andrews
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who is head of equity and inclusion at
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Guardian Life prior to Guardian Jennifer
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led the diversity and inclusion efforts
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for the America's region at credit SS
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she's also a University of Penn alumnus
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uh Jennifer is here to talk about
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standing up and stepping in a modern
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look at caregivers in the US which is a
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report that has insights based on
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responses from guardians annual
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workplace benefits study uh and this
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report explores the remarkable rise in
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the number of caregivers in the country
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in the US the profound impact caregiving
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responsibilities have on their lives
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mentally physically and financially as
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well as the crucial role of employers in
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supporting their caregiving Workforce
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amid the societal Trend and workplace
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Dynamic next we have Dr Ellen ER
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KK who is the basil S Turner
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distinguished professor of management at
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Purdue University's Mitchell e Daniels
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Junior School of Business uh her current
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research examines strategic and
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Leadership initiatives to advance gender
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and work life equality and improve the
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implementation of flexibility and work
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life work Family Life policies to Foster
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diversity and inclusion in employment Dr
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kic has won numerous National and
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International schol L awards for
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research and service Excellence to
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advance gender and work life
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understanding now recently she served on
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a nationaly of Sciences committee
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focused on family policies for the stem
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Workforce she will share insights from
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the recently released report report
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supporting family G caregivers in stem a
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call to action um in addition to her
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years of research on these topics
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welcome Jennifer and Ellen I'm so
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delighted to have you here to today uh
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to join with me in a conversation on
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supporting caregivers in the workplace
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so I want to start us off by talking
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about Guardians report standing up and
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stepping in a modern look at caregivers
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in the US and what was learned from that
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work Jennifer can you please share with
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us a little bit about the report
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including how the data were collected
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and the top take top three takeaways
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from the report sure and thanks so much
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for inviting me to share the insights
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from this report so we started with
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surveying about 2,000 employers and
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American workers and we use an expansive
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definition of caregiving basically
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anyone who provides care for another so
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whether that be Elder Care Child Care
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caring for a sick or disabled person or
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some combination and i' say upon my top
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three takeaways first this may surprise
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your listeners but we discovered that
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about seven out of 10 workers have some
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level of caregiving responsibilities you
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know most employeers can't even fathom
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this and we know that the caregiving
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responsibilities are dis
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disproportionately impacts historically
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underrepresented groups second there's a
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stigma around the word caregiver so
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ironically we spoke to some of our own
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Guardian colleagues who happen to be
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parents and they said they did not want
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to be labeled as a caregiver for their
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children however the reality is that as
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well as you know parents parents as well
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as caring for kind of sick or elderly
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loved ones they really have similar
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needs so looking at caregiving as a
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holistically will allow employeers to
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really provide more comprehensive
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benefits and accommodations that really
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will support all types of caregiving on
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the third and final takeaway is that
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caregiving caregivers sorry are more
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likely to have negative impacts on their
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physical financial and mental well-being
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as well as potentially they will kind of
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diminish some of their career growth
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opportunities so if you think
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specifically so you know about 25% of
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the caregiving population say that they
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don't keep up with their health checkups
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they don't exercise regularly and they
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don't really um practice healthy eating
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habits 40% say that their caregiving
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responsibilities have somehow negatively
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impacted their household
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finances
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41% say that they have overall low
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mental well-being and that's compared to
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32% of folks who are not caregivers and
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then finally 20% of caregivers have
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taken a leave absence or step back in
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their career responsibilities to
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accommodate their care caregiving duties
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now this one really resonates with me
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because you about 20 years ago I
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actually took a career break to care for
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my kids because at the time I really
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didn't feel that I could balance both
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and there really was not a lot of
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support for a working parents so that's
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a little bit about our study overall
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super interesting results what popped in
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my head as I was listening to you talk
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is how I think many people didn't hear a
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lot about caregiving and Trends until we
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were in the midst of a pandemic and then
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we started hearing a lot and I started
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thinking that some listeners might be
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wondering the relationship between the
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things that you're saying and and the
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pandemic or are these issues that are um
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you know a function of the pandemic or
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were they always there so I'm going to
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turn to Ellen um and Ellen you know
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certainly you've been doing research on
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this topic for for a long time and you
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understand the trends with things that
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are happening in society I am curious
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around your perspective on is this a
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pandemic aftermath thing or not or is
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this sort of how it's always been but I
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also want to know how what you think
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about this idea that you know Guardian
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has found that there's been a a sharp
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rise in workers providing care in
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addition to working full-time so how
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does that relate how do these ideas
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relate to the things that you're seeing
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in your own research and
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practice well Stephanie I think
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regarding the pandemic these uh demands
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were already there but uh was not always
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visible to the employer and when daycare
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centers closed nursing homes you know
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closed or wouldn't let families in
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people had to work from home if they
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were able to do remote work and there
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were still let's not forget the
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Frontline workers that were figuring out
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how to juggle care it became more
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visible and I did do a a report for the
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National Academy of Sciences I've done a
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couple reports but I did a study that
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looked at how stem academic faculty
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manage this change and we call it
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pushing the boundaries because there
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were all of these very highly
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educated um women at home over from all
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the stem fields of you know from
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Aerospace engineering to electron
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electrical engineering and they
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basically were very frustrated in how
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their organizations to combine with what
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Jennifer said responded to their needs
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mattered and how well they dealt with
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the stress so many people love their
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jobs and it's part of their professional
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identity just like their family and yet
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we found that you know just simple
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things like how do you manage Zoom
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during a call when your child is needs
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help or there's a a uh you know some
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people had autistic children that one
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woman that the child was having uh
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challenges and her boss is texting her
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where's this report so I think the
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pandemic made visible the need to
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respect work life boundaries and also I
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think the narrative that many women left
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the workforce is true and Men some men
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caregivers as well but many people were
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frustrated because they loved their
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careers and it's part of their identity
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and to go to Garrett Guardians report I
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think a lot of people feel stigma
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disclosing all the typ of care they're
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doing and besides some of the uh
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caregiving uh backgrounds that Jennifer
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mentioned a lot of people are providing
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adult care for children or people over
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18 uh you know a lot of uh people from
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college had returned to the parents'
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home and we're still feeling those
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effects spouses that are disabled and I
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30% of uh families in America today are
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people that are not married they may not
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be living alone this this was a Pew
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charitable trust report uh but uh 133%
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of people are living alone if they're
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caring for others at a distance or for
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themselves these are things that we have
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not updated workplace policies to
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address the diversity and complexity of
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caregiving demands in our Workforce but
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also how normal this is if I if I
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combine what the stats that Jennifer
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shared I you you said seven in 10 people
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have some sort of responsibilities and
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then what you're saying Ellen it seems
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to me that you know workplaces and
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organizations are maybe operating in an
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alternative reality as compared to the
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lived experiences that most of us are
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having on any care given day um with
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respect to care so I I do find that
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interesting Ellen I want to dig a little
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bit more into the uh committee that you
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participated in the National Academy of
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Sciences committee um that was focused
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on family policies for the stem
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Workforce and and recently you uh
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released a rather extensive report I
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started going through it and I thought
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wow there is a wealth of information in
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this report so for those who haven't
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read it yet um what would you say are
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some of your personal top two top three
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takeaways from this
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report yes and just to be clear there
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were two reports I did I did one on stem
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women and and particularly uh women
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across many backgrounds of ethnicity
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prior or during the pandemic and then
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because of that I get a appointed to an
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expert committee um was the only
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business school Professor on this report
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called supporting family caregivers and
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stem a called to action and it was a
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two-year Academy of Science report and
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we went to all the funding agencies in
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the US uh we uh did extra focus groups
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with people that were
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underrepresented uh of uh different uh
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sexuality and other backgrounds and
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basically here is the top three
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takeaways number one that support of the
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stem Workforce and caregivers is a
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strategic labor force investment and an
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issue of equity but the US in particular
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but AC around the globe as well uh this
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is not seen as a priority the way we
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have policy set up today other problems
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in
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implementation and uh even taking a
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leave like Jennifer did that's a lot of
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Courage many people can't even afford to
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leave the labor force if they're The
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Sole Provider or in an expensive area
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with dual incomes so I think what we're
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not prepared for number one is we're
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going to have severe shortages of
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doctors
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Engineers uh we need to have the people
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if you think about uh our education
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Workforce in stem that over uh in some
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areas women are half of the uh people
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getting their stem degrees if we're not
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keeping people working uh staying in
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Stam and many uh we're going to have
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shortages and we need to keep people of
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all genders and backgrounds working
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longer and uh right now not supporting
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family care people are deciding uh to
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either cut back on their own or leave
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the workforce or if they leave they
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leave stem but not necessarily work they
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leave masculine cultures that don't
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support care um the other issues we
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found were uh availability it's
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skyrocketing uh problems since the
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pandemic the cost of care uh the lack of
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policy awareness people are not able to
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afford uh to to even use some of the
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benefits available or there's once again
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stigma for using family and sickly
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there's not enough Staffing in some of
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our stem professions uh and uh basically
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an overwork culture where when people
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signal that work is not their Prime
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primary and O only identity it will cut
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them
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back Solutions are pretty mundane uh in
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terms of where we studied a lot of the
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universities in this country uh but
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simple things like a website with things
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easy to find uh and uh having Universal
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opt out policies so people don't have to
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ask permission but it might be in a
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certain stance of someone uh you
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know is hospitalized or something we we
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make it really hard hard for people to
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use the policies we have and people
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there is bias in our Workforce uh for
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using these policies in terms of
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Innovations we need companies to partner
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with researchers to do a lot more to
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Pilot interventions and uh some of the
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Innovative policies there was one at
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Stanford where they would let people who
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wanted to work more hours uh to bank
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some of their leave time and you give to
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other people that might you know had a
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catastrophe or needed care that didn't
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survive over the long term and I think
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we have a lot of pilot programs but we
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don't mainstream these the way our jobs
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are designed to be a director vice
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president uh they huge jobs requiring
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much more than 40 hours a week
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Innovations would be a job share but we
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would think of that at the higher levels
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we have a lot to go ways long ways to go
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to integrate Innovative work design and
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supporting people having a life outside
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of work and wanting to work longer for
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high-powered companies and firms so
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we're going to dive a little bit more
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into the some of the interventions that
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you've been raising in in a few minutes
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um but I think one thing that came up
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for me as you were sharing this and
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particularly it was actually an
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intervention around websites is I had a
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I have a friend who um is expecting her
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second child and she's moved
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universities and so she's understood
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that the policies are drastically
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different um in terms of leave and do
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you have to teach and how much do you
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have to teach even though right which I
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I do not have kids so I've not spent any
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time looking at these policies but she
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asked me because we used to work
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together different University and she
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says to me uh where where where's all
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your information on this and I said
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there's a website and I showed her our
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website and she says we don't even have
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anything that looks like that so so
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people I think sometimes will say how
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was that intervention information is
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power right for people who are trying to
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navigate these com complex systems
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around sort of like what are the
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available resources to them so that's
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sort of like what came up for me as you
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were talking but what I want to do is I
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want to turn to you um Jenifer and I I
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want you to uh see if there's any
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overlap between the types of things that
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Ellen has been sharing that her in and
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in her work but also um there was an
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Insight in in in the stem report that
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I'm curious to get your perspective on
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um and it was and this Insight is that
00:16:03
while family caregivers provide care in
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many forms and for a wide range of
00:16:08
relationships family caregiv is often
00:16:10
viewed in a very limited way so how does
00:16:13
that align with like what you've seen in
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your work and and I believe we've heard
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Ellen saying some of this stuff as well
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yes so it's absolutely aligned with what
00:16:22
we we found as well you know the kind of
00:16:25
narrow view of caregiving outlined in
00:16:27
stem report is exactly what we found um
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you know in for you know probably the
00:16:33
general stigma around even the term so
00:16:37
there many people who don't even want to
00:16:38
cons to talk about caregiving typically
00:16:42
as being a parent they feel like that's
00:16:44
something separate than caregiving more
00:16:46
more broadly and even the willingness
00:16:49
for our colleagues to talk about
00:16:52
caregiving responsibilities they feel
00:16:54
there's a stigma even to talk about the
00:16:56
fact that you're doing this work outs
00:16:59
out of your your office work and how
00:17:02
that might be perceived by your
00:17:03
colleagues the people who you work for
00:17:07
and you know just kind of being behind
00:17:10
the scenes and being quiet about and I
00:17:11
think what you said you said earlier
00:17:12
about the pandemic when our work at home
00:17:16
life kind of came together that kind of
00:17:18
lifted the veil of some of that but
00:17:20
there's still a lot of stigma around it
00:17:23
um you know and again thinking about
00:17:25
really this population as a holistic
00:17:28
Coalition because you as I said earlier
00:17:31
seven out of 10 um people have some sort
00:17:34
of caregiving duties this will really
00:17:36
allow us to really think more
00:17:38
holistically about how we are working
00:17:40
with them and how we should support them
00:17:42
and realize that this is you know a
00:17:44
critical need within organizations when
00:17:47
they realize how big this population is
00:17:49
and how much this can really support
00:17:51
their the organization's overall
00:17:53
wellbeing so this may seem like a silly
00:17:55
question but I think it's an important
00:17:57
one and and this question for both of
00:18:00
you is why do you think these insights
00:18:04
that you gain from your various projects
00:18:07
are important and relevant to employers
00:18:10
and workers why should people be
00:18:13
listening to this conversation that
00:18:16
we're having um and you know investing
00:18:19
which they will need to do significant
00:18:21
resources in solving these challenges so
00:18:24
Ellen I'm going to start with you um
00:18:27
when you think about you know there's a
00:18:28
number reports we could be talking about
00:18:30
including the most recent one on
00:18:31
supporting Fair family caregivers in
00:18:33
stem but you have been down this road
00:18:36
for some time um in a variety of
00:18:38
projects that are all alluding to the
00:18:40
same conclusion that we need to be doing
00:18:42
a better job of supporting caregivers so
00:18:45
why is this something that employers and
00:18:47
workers should care
00:18:49
about well we know
00:18:52
that you know 80% of employees have have
00:18:58
f considered a family even if they're a
00:19:00
single person family and work and life
00:19:02
are not separate we saw this during the
00:19:04
pandemic it's really increasingly
00:19:07
related with the digitalization of work
00:19:09
and life even if you're a Frontline
00:19:11
worker you can still get called in at
00:19:13
the last minute from home and we have
00:19:15
not updated our policies in terms of
00:19:19
flexibility uh in a way that is
00:19:21
mainstreamed we're seeing the fights
00:19:23
right now with uh back to the office
00:19:26
mandates uh so I just think companies
00:19:29
have not evolved and people are going to
00:19:32
walk with their feet and not want to
00:19:34
work for big firms that aren't more
00:19:37
flexible in terms of implementing the
00:19:39
policies they have well I also think in
00:19:42
terms of supervision and Leadership this
00:19:45
is an issue where companies have a lot
00:19:47
of symbolic or underutilized policies
00:19:50
even universities with paid leave and
00:19:52
sickly people can't use these policies
00:19:56
effectively and you know we have unpaid
00:19:58
leave in this country right now for
00:20:01
family and sick leave so your listeners
00:20:04
your employers have are picking up the
00:20:06
slack the US caregiving policy is in the
00:20:09
hands of employers and if they want to
00:20:11
have a Workforce that's ready and not
00:20:13
stressed out they are going to have to
00:20:15
leave on Innovative practices just as
00:20:18
they would to find the best way uh to
00:20:21
implement some of their Innovation such
00:20:23
as hybrid work this is all linked people
00:20:26
are going to be working at home or need
00:20:27
flexibility to integrate all of these
00:20:30
complex parts of their life again I feel
00:20:33
like again silly question around why
00:20:35
human beings matter but turning it to
00:20:37
you Jennifer when you think about the
00:20:40
insights in in Guardians modern look at
00:20:43
caregivers in the US report what stands
00:20:45
out to you as being uh the the reason
00:20:47
for why this is important and relevant
00:20:50
absolutely so let's start with 70% of
00:20:53
workers have caregiving responsibilities
00:20:56
and this is expected to grow and in
00:20:58
particular particular what we call the
00:20:59
sandwich group so people who are caring
00:21:02
for both children and aging parents so
00:21:05
with this understanding in mind uh it
00:21:07
really should be a strategic priority
00:21:09
within our organizations you know all
00:21:12
organizations are or maybe I should say
00:21:14
should be focusing on ways to stay
00:21:17
relevant given the rapid changes in
00:21:19
Technologies how the new generations
00:21:21
want to work shifting demographics and
00:21:24
so much more so kind of listening to our
00:21:27
colleagues understanding their needs and
00:21:29
providing them the right support is key
00:21:32
you know this is why people join stay or
00:21:34
unfortunately leave an organization or
00:21:37
even the workforce more broadly you know
00:21:40
a guardian we are our purpose is to
00:21:42
inspire well-being and we really take a
00:21:46
holistic approach to ensure that we are
00:21:48
Equitable for and inclusive of all of
00:21:50
our current and future colleagues we're
00:21:53
examining all of our systems processes
00:21:56
practices policies and Norms with with
00:21:58
an equity and inclusive lens lens and
00:22:01
that really includes caregiving you for
00:22:03
example we recently introduced a service
00:22:06
called wealthy it's a coner service that
00:22:09
supports managing healthc care needs for
00:22:11
employees as well as their loved ones so
00:22:14
I am personally a user of this service
00:22:16
and I have to say it was transformative
00:22:18
so unfortunately my Dad recently fell
00:22:20
and he broke his hip but using the
00:22:23
service we're able to have our health
00:22:25
care partner research and provide us
00:22:27
with recommendations on the best support
00:22:29
for him given like the criteria we
00:22:31
provided them they literally saved my
00:22:34
family and me hundreds of hours of
00:22:36
research and stress you know I was able
00:22:39
to really kind of show up for work and
00:22:42
be focused on my job responsibilities
00:22:45
while also knowing that my dad's needs
00:22:47
were being managed this is one
00:22:48
Innovative and like powerful example of
00:22:51
how employeers can support their
00:22:53
Workforce I I have to say personally as
00:22:56
an employee Guardian I am so grateful
00:22:59
that we had that kind type of benefit
00:23:00
you I've used it then I'm still using it
00:23:03
you know today that's such a great idea
00:23:06
and it's not easy nav I used to work in
00:23:09
healthcare it's
00:23:11
not even when you work in it it's like
00:23:14
impossible so to have someone there an
00:23:16
employer sponsored benefit that allows
00:23:19
someone to help you figure out how to
00:23:21
like get your your your you know your
00:23:23
loved one the care that they need that's
00:23:26
kind of uh invaluable yes I I can't rape
00:23:30
about it enough it's been amazing so
00:23:33
Ellen I would love to now you mentioned
00:23:35
like a number of of interventions you
00:23:38
know I keep I keep thinking about the
00:23:40
fact and and you'll get this as much as
00:23:42
I do because you know both of us have
00:23:44
been studying workplaces for a long time
00:23:47
is when I see another headline around
00:23:50
you know return to office and remote
00:23:52
work and people batting that policy
00:23:54
around I'm like we've been batting
00:23:56
around this policy for I don't know
00:23:58
however many decades since we had it
00:24:00
back when it was the policy for women
00:24:03
right or the policy for caregivers uh so
00:24:06
it's always interesting to me that
00:24:07
people think that remote working emerged
00:24:10
with the pandemic if anything I would
00:24:12
say the fact that we already had these
00:24:14
policies in place for caregivers allowed
00:24:17
us to transition very um quickly to that
00:24:20
environment that said that's just one
00:24:23
way that I've seen you talk about and
00:24:25
other people's have talked about in
00:24:26
terms of flexibility but like what are
00:24:28
some of these other uh potential
00:24:30
interventions that you think are on your
00:24:32
top you know two or so list of things
00:24:35
that employers should be putting in
00:24:37
place to support working
00:24:40
caregivers well number one is to think
00:24:44
that every job needs some sort of work
00:24:46
life support and I think one of the
00:24:49
reason that Jen was talking about how
00:24:51
some people don't want to be called
00:24:52
caregivers is companies went through a
00:24:55
language narrative where they didn't
00:24:57
like using the term work family because
00:24:59
they thought it was not including single
00:25:01
people and other types of needs but
00:25:04
everybody needs care from self-care to
00:25:06
caring for all the dependents that we've
00:25:08
talked about so I in a study I just did
00:25:12
that was published in human resource
00:25:14
management we found that people in jobs
00:25:18
that didn't have a lot of schedule
00:25:20
control or boundary control they had
00:25:23
higher emotional exhaustion so think
00:25:25
janitors thinking nursing assistant food
00:25:28
service so we and we found that we could
00:25:32
improve uh emotional or this exhaustion
00:25:35
by just training leaders to be more
00:25:38
supportive of care and nonwork needs so
00:25:41
first intervention to me is just trying
00:25:43
to change the culture and make work life
00:25:46
support just like supporting people and
00:25:48
how as part of you know making your
00:25:51
marketing goals this is the path to meet
00:25:54
these objectives and we don't integrate
00:25:56
work life support from leaders into a
00:25:58
lot of leadership training number two I
00:26:02
think is the fact that if we're going to
00:26:05
make these hybrid and future of work uh
00:26:08
policies really
00:26:10
mainstreamed uh we need to really uh
00:26:14
Implement policies to support people's
00:26:16
ability to turn off work connectivity
00:26:18
manage care while they're working in the
00:26:20
home and lastly I've done some work with
00:26:23
Frontline workers and there are things
00:26:25
that we can do for the people that have
00:26:27
been left behind I did a recent study
00:26:29
that I'm writing up on a cell phone
00:26:32
policy at a big box stores and you have
00:26:34
to lock up your cell phone uh you you
00:26:37
can't even get a text during the day if
00:26:39
your kid gets home from school or a
00:26:41
doctor needs to call you you can call
00:26:43
them at break so just allowing people
00:26:46
the the ability to take some of these uh
00:26:49
messages not on break and step off the
00:26:52
floor was an intervention that we did uh
00:26:55
we also have looked at things like with
00:26:57
Union ized workforces shift trades if
00:27:00
you think about jobs that are
00:27:03
247 uh you can put in some flexibility
00:27:05
making it easier for people to get time
00:27:07
off and in things like healthc care
00:27:10
where you have to have employees trade
00:27:12
jobs that have the similar level of
00:27:14
skill to care for the patient Acuity you
00:27:17
need to train workers and think about
00:27:19
your culture to put that flexibility
00:27:21
into your system so I think we could do
00:27:24
a lot more Innovations to support
00:27:26
people's ability to have flexib
00:27:28
for every type of job and that's
00:27:30
important to me to not just make this uh
00:27:34
something privileged for people that can
00:27:35
work on a laptop at home yeah I truly
00:27:38
appreciate that focus on you know we
00:27:40
think about like the the salaried
00:27:42
workers like those of us who who do um
00:27:45
have the ability to work on that laptop
00:27:47
from home versus those who don't and and
00:27:50
and and just one thing though on the
00:27:51
salary workers there is still a
00:27:54
tremendous Gap in terms of uh people who
00:27:57
are caregivers rising to the highest
00:28:00
levels of the sea Suite while they are
00:28:01
doing care so I'm not saying we don't
00:28:04
care about Sal workers we do and there
00:28:07
is an adverse impact and that would be
00:28:09
the leadership pipeline is still having
00:28:12
problems because they haven't figured
00:28:14
out how to support growing in a career
00:28:17
and Care yeah with some slight ability
00:28:20
to uh manage load uh during peak times
00:28:24
absolutely absolutely so Jen I'd like to
00:28:27
turn to you and give you an opportunity
00:28:28
to share um any other you know thoughts
00:28:31
that you have on the idea of supporting
00:28:33
caregivers in the workplace whether
00:28:35
that's you like an experience insights
00:28:37
from the report or interventions what do
00:28:39
you what do you think so this there's so
00:28:42
much and I think you know a lot of what
00:28:43
Ellen says really resonates with me um
00:28:46
but I guess maybe something that I can
00:28:49
take away for the listeners is that they
00:28:52
need to really remember that the caregiv
00:28:54
population is really much larger than
00:28:56
they assume and it is not solely a
00:28:58
women's issue it's an organizational
00:29:01
issue you know with 70% of our Workforce
00:29:04
having caregiving um duties we know that
00:29:08
70% of the workforce is not women so
00:29:10
this is impacting men as well and this
00:29:12
is going to continue to grow so you know
00:29:16
benefits and accommodations that may
00:29:18
have worked you know five 10 15 years
00:29:20
ago are no longer sufficient for today's
00:29:23
Workforce it really is a way in which we
00:29:26
need to kind of really transform trans
00:29:28
form how we think about our organization
00:29:30
and and really how are we thinking about
00:29:33
what the company should be doing you
00:29:37
know what's the lip realities of the
00:29:38
folks who are now part of these
00:29:40
companies because you know any compan is
00:29:42
just a collection of people um and you
00:29:46
know the fact that this cohort is so
00:29:48
expansive this again needs to be a
00:29:50
strategic priority within organizations
00:29:53
you know they need to really make sure
00:29:55
they make these changes because you know
00:29:57
kind of what Ellen said earlier if
00:29:59
people aren't going to aren't doing this
00:30:01
if organizations aren't doing this
00:30:02
people are going to leave and so if you
00:30:04
want to stay relevant you want to be
00:30:06
Innovative you want to have the best
00:30:07
talent and continue to attract the best
00:30:10
talent you have to do this um you you
00:30:13
have to ensure that your organizations
00:30:15
are Equitable for and inclusive of all
00:30:18
of your current and future employees
00:30:20
your leaders really need to understand
00:30:22
that what may have worked for them may
00:30:24
not be somebody else's lived experience
00:30:26
so they need to really be empathetic and
00:30:30
humble enough to kind of listen to
00:30:33
really interpret what they're hearing
00:30:35
and then to act so that's probably what
00:30:38
I I would want to leave you with
00:30:40
excellent thank you so much uh Alan
00:30:43
final thoughts on this topic at least
00:30:45
for
00:30:48
today just I think uh the listeners that
00:30:52
are in Key decision-making role you have
00:30:54
the power to make the change and I think
00:30:56
this issue of care and work life
00:30:58
resonates with many people personally or
00:31:01
you have sons or daughters or you see
00:31:02
other co-workers and the US is a pretty
00:31:05
individualistic culture and we've sort
00:31:07
of told people you got to figure this
00:31:10
out by yourself but these uh issues are
00:31:13
in work teams and are occurring in
00:31:16
organization cultures and these Dynamics
00:31:19
can really only be solved with uh work
00:31:22
teams working uh differently and leaders
00:31:25
uh acting to make this a top priority
00:31:29
and you know it really is part of being
00:31:32
a sustainable Workforce uh just like we
00:31:35
think about sustainability for the UN
00:31:37
goals uh I think that this is the future
00:31:41
and we for the first time or not the
00:31:43
first time but for a long time now we
00:31:45
are lagging in the US in terms of
00:31:47
rankings of equality Health well-being
00:31:51
and other countries are if the war for
00:31:54
talent goes Global uh they they have
00:31:56
better work life and better reports than
00:31:58
we
00:31:59
do absolutely well you know I'm so
00:32:02
delighted that you two were able and
00:32:04
willing and available to come on uh the
00:32:06
show today I want to thank you Dr Ellen
00:32:09
Ernst KK from Perdue University's
00:32:12
Mitchell uh e Daniels Jr School of
00:32:15
Business and Jennifer Andrews from
00:32:17
Guardian Life for joining us today for
00:32:19
sharing your insights your expertise on
00:32:21
supporting caregivers in the workplace
00:32:23
and and and definitely for the work that
00:32:24
you do more broadly related to equity
00:32:26
and inclusion in organization that does
00:32:28
not go understated um in terms of like
00:32:30
this as part of this broader
00:32:31
conversation the two of you are helping
00:32:33
to continue to grow um so thank you for
00:32:36
sharing your insights and your expertise
00:32:38
today I truly appreciate you for being
00:32:40
here uh so that is all for today thank
00:32:43
you for joining us to our listeners and
00:32:45
for listening to this episode of the
00:32:46
knowledge at Wharton leading diversity
00:32:48
at work podcast series goodbye for now
00:32:51
for more insight from knowledge at
00:32:53
Wharton please visit knowledge. won. up.
00:32:58
you

Episode Highlights

  • Impact of Caregiving on Well-being
    Caregiving responsibilities significantly affect mental, physical, and financial health.
    “Caregiving responsibilities have profound impacts on mental, physical, and financial well-being.”
    @ 01m 14s
    July 29, 2024
  • The Rise of Caregivers
    Seven out of ten workers have caregiving responsibilities, a statistic that surprises many employers.
    “Seven out of ten workers have some level of caregiving responsibilities.”
    @ 03m 27s
    July 29, 2024
  • Stigma Surrounding Caregiving
    Many individuals feel uncomfortable identifying as caregivers due to stigma, impacting workplace support.
    “There's a stigma around the word caregiver.”
    @ 03m 45s
    July 29, 2024
  • Pandemic's Role in Visibility
    The pandemic highlighted the need for employers to recognize and support caregiving roles.
    “The pandemic made visible the need to respect work-life boundaries.”
    @ 08m 09s
    July 29, 2024
  • Interconnectedness of Work and Life
    Work and life are increasingly intertwined, necessitating updated workplace policies.
    “Work and life are not separate; they are increasingly related.”
    @ 19m 02s
    July 29, 2024
  • Transformative Caregiving Support
    A personal story highlights the impact of a caregiving support service that saved time and stress.
    “They literally saved my family and me hundreds of hours of research and stress.”
    @ 22m 34s
    July 29, 2024
  • The Caregiving Workforce
    The caregiving population is not just a women's issue; it's an organizational issue affecting many.
    “The caregiving population is much larger than they assume.”
    @ 28m 52s
    July 29, 2024
  • Organizational Change is Essential
    To attract and retain talent, organizations must prioritize support for caregivers.
    “If organizations aren’t doing this, people are going to leave.”
    @ 30m 01s
    July 29, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • Seven out of ten workers have some level of caregiving responsibilities.
    How to Improve Work-life Balance for Caregiving Employees
  • The pandemic made visible the need to respect work-life boundaries.
    How to Improve Work-life Balance for Caregiving Employees
  • Work and life are not separate; they are increasingly related.
    How to Improve Work-life Balance for Caregiving Employees
  • This is why people join, stay, or unfortunately leave an organization.
    How to Improve Work-life Balance for Caregiving Employees
  • They literally saved my family and me hundreds of hours of research and stress.
    How to Improve Work-life Balance for Caregiving Employees
  • If organizations aren’t doing this, people are going to leave.
    How to Improve Work-life Balance for Caregiving Employees

Key Moments

  • Well-being Impact01:14
  • Caregiving Statistics03:27
  • Stigma of Caregiving03:45
  • Pandemic Insights08:09
  • Work-Life Integration19:02
  • Caregiving Support22:06
  • Organizational Change29:50
  • Empathy in Leadership30:22

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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