As we celebrate Black History month, it’s important to “walk the walk” and not just “talk the talk” when it comes to creating, fostering, and maintaining a diverse workplace.
People of color make up over 40% of all caregivers and 61% of caregiving workers are women, a disproportionate number of whom exit the workforce annually because of how hard it can be to balance the demands of both work and home.
Employers face new challenges trying to keep unpaid caregivers focused and from leaving jobs permanently to care for family.
Those who can’t or won’t leave the workforce suffer from heavy stress – including clinical depression – and other health problems such as hypertension and obesity.
Diversity’s Impact on The Bottom Line
When employees with diverse backgrounds leave your company or the workforce altogether, overall productivity, collaboration, and innovation suffers. According to Forbes, companies with diverse workforces have a competitive edge over their less diverse peers.
This competitive edge can lead to reduced turnover, improved creativity and collaboration, and therefore, a boost to company growth and profit margins.
Improving Diversity Across Your Organization
So, what can you do to provide a welcoming, inclusive workplace that eases this burden?
- Show empathy and willingness to allow family caregivers to take paid time off to care for their loved one(s).
- Offer employees staggered start times or other flexible scheduling options to accommodate your employees’ caregiving responsibilities.
- Open up the conversation about caregiving. This starts with company leadership sharing their own challenges with caregiving and how they’ve balanced personal responsibilities with their work.
- Many forward-thinking organizations are also offering a caregiving benefit to their teams. These benefits offer employees guidance on their caregiving journey, including care coordination and expert guidance, to reduce their work, worry, and stress, allowing them to focus on their families and their work. Such a benefit is no longer a “nice to have,” rather a “need to have” to support, attract and retain employees.
No matter what route you take, having a diverse and inclusive workforce and environment is good business. By providing caregiving support, you can help your employees balance the demands of work and caregiving and ultimately, create a more supportive workplace for all. To learn more about providing (much needed) family caregiving support to your employees, check out more resources on our website. To receive insights delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our weekly newsletter!