As an employer, having an elder care consultant seems like an expensive benefit, especially given our recessionary times. Wouldn’t it be cost prohibitive?

Not addressing the eldercare needs of your company could be costing you more than $1 million dollars in lost productivity. The studies conducted by MetLife, the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP found that employers are already bearing the cost of caregiving, albeit in a more silent way. Employees need to research, locate and identify their care options, all while at work, or taking time away from work. Employee productivity is reduced and the demands and stress of caregiving has been proven to raise an employer’s healthcare costs by 8%.

With an elder care consultant, employees can bring these caregiving issues to the consultant, who can then relieve employees of the many details: researching caregiving options, identifying resources to support the elder in their community, advising the employee of the many options for their support, whether it be hiring a geriatric care manager to help manage the care, or identifying caregivers to bring in to the home.

As an example for an employer of 10,000 employees, using the MetLife ElderCareCalculator, the cost to the employer for caregiving employees comes to more than $1 million per year. On the other hand, having an elder care consultant available to these employees would be only the cost of the consultant.

Shouldn’t employees take this cost on themselves?

Employees are shouldering much of the cost of caregiving, but the reality is that you as the employer are shouldering a significant cost as well. As an employer, your costs are reduced productivity, increases in family leave time or turnover due to caregiving needs, and increases in healthcare costs related to the stresses of caregiving.

The addition of the consultant provides an opportunity to relieve caregiving employees of much of the time away from their job functions, thus allowing them to remain productive during the workday, and more available to you, the employer. Studies show that health related costs can be improved by helping employees with this issue, as being a caregiving employee increases the likelihood of diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases, thus raising the employer’s healthcare costs by 8%.

If we do choose to have an elder care consultant, how would he/she function within our working environment? Our employees are located at sites throughout the world. How would the elder care consultant assist them with their caregiving needs?

Every working environment is unique to its organization, so we work with you to determine the best arrangement for you and your employees. In general, the elder care consultant meets with employees during your organization’s operating hours, with one or two days during the week available for later hours.

All consultations are confidential between the consultant and employee. The consultant maintains a private record of the issues presented. When not meeting with employees for consultation, the elder care consultant is following up on behalf of the caregiving employee by conducting the research, and coordinating and implementing the plan of care, which allows the employee to focus on his/her job for you, the employer.

For remote employees, or any employee who prefers, the Senior Care Management Services elder care consultant is available by e-mail or phone, and can schedule an after-hours conference call if the difference in time zones makes it necessary. Off site employees find this benefit even more useful, as they are far away and need the additional support of an expert to guide them through the maze of long distance caregiving.