• Productivity costs - The mental and physical toll on the caregiver employee is a silent productivity drain. Employees may be physically present but may not be as productive as they otherwise would be.
• Healthcare costs – Caregiver strain adversely affects health, resulting in higher usage of healthcare benefits.
• Turnover - Employees leaving full time jobs to provide care results in a loss of talent and institutional knowledge and an increase in hiring and training costs.

• Aging of America – The population of the 65 and over age group is expected to more than double by 2030 to over 70 million, representing approximately 25% of the US population.
• Smaller families – Families are having fewer children, resulting in fewer family caregivers to share the load. In 1990, there were 11 potential family caregivers for each person needing care.  By 2050, that ratio will be four to 1. (National Family Caregivers Association)

Following are a few brief, yet startling, statistics on how this escalating issue impacts businesses today:

Prevalence

• 64% of caregivers of the 44.4 million American caregivers are employed.
• They spend an average of 18 to 40 hours per month providing care.
• 66% of working caregivers report conflicts between work and caregiving, requiring them to re-arrange their work schedules, work fewer than normal hours and/or take unpaid leaves of absence.

• 33% of caregivers decrease the number of hours they work
• 17% have to take a leave of absence
• 10% go from full-time to part-time
• 6% have to give up work entirely
• 3% choose early retirement
• 4% have to turn down a promotion

• US employers lose approximately $29 billion annually or $1,142 per full time employee in lost wage productivity due to informal eldercare assistance. This figure increases four-fold if we include informal care for the one-third of all adults under age 50 living with a chronic illness or disability.
• 53% of caregivers admit that their job performance is negatively affected.
• 57% had to go in late, leave early, and/or take time off due to caregiving.

• Caregiver stress accounts for 27% increase in use of company health insurance benefits.
• 75% of working caregivers report an adverse affect on their own health.
• 50% report 8 additional visits per year to a health care provider (for themselves) as a result of their care giving responsibilities.
• 22% report a significant impact on their own health.