Caring for caregivers has become the new frontier in workplace management. Statistics reveal a massive and growing challenge worldwide for employees who must juggle their jobs with caring for elderly parents; a life partner with a health condition; or a disabled child, sibling, or close friend.

In my own country, the United Kingdom, one in every nine employees (3 million people) is juggling a job and caring for a loved one. That figure will grow inexorably: The country’s 6.5 million carers are projected to increase to 9 million over the next two decades.

For many of us, caring for a dependent will be the most important thing we do in life. Caregiving, however, can be stressful and have negative impacts on physical and mental health, social life, and family finances. The challenges of juggling jobs and caregiving can become so extreme that significant numbers of carers may be forced to give up work. UK market research carried out by YouGov suggests that more than two million citizens have given up work at some point to care for loved ones and three million have reduced working hours. This exacts a cost on them as well as on their employers, who may lose highly experienced and valuable employees in the process.

I am chairman of the board of trustees for Carers UK, a British nonprofit that seeks to promote a society that respects, values, and supports caregivers. One of our programs is an employer-led network that collaborates on how best to help their working carers. In Scotland, we also run a carer-friendly workplace-accreditation scheme on behalf of the Scottish government called Carer Positive, which assesses employers in terms of how they value and support their working carers. I want to see more initiatives around the world that encourage and help employers to become great employers for their working carers. Where might such initiatives come from?

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