Many caregivers find themselves playing dual roles – working fulltime and providing care every minute they are not working outside the home. This presents many challenges and stressors to the caregiver. The delicate balance of caring for a loved one while maintaining a successful and productive career can be daunting.
Many caregivers cannot afford to leave their employment because it is a financial necessity to pay the bills and provide for a family. They have a limited amount of time they can take off of work and it is usually consumed with caregiving, doctor’s visits, and related activities. Caregivers in this situation feel they are letting coworkers down and also not taking the best care of their loved one.
No matter how you look at it, it simply isn’t an easy situation to deal with but here again, communication is vital! Communicating with your boss, co-workers, and family members can make all the difference in the world and it also gives you a chance to look at different perspectives when you get others involved. Don’t try to hide your feelings and hold your stress in.
Some caregivers may not be aware of certain benefits offered by some, but not all employers that could provide solutions during this difficult time. The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is one such benefit you may consider discussing with your employer and your family to see if it might be a viable option in your situation.
While the FMLA offers job protection for up to 12 weeks so that you can care for an ailing loved one, it is an unpaid leave, and as such is not a viable option for everyone. However, the federal statute does ensure that you will have a job to return to and that your personal health benefits won’t be compromised during this time. So if you are able to get by without your salary for a few weeks, this could be a viable option.
Even if you don’t take advantage of the FMLA, it is important to let your employer know what you are up against. Hopefully, he or she will be supportive when you need to take time off for doctor visits and they may be willing to adjust your schedule if needed.
One woman who was caring for her elderly mother didn’t want to burden her co-workers or her employer with her personal problems and didn’t tell anyone what was going on at home. However, because she promptly left her desk every day precisely at 5:00, she got a reputation as a clock watcher and wasn’t perceived as a team player. She was shocked when she realized how others thought of her and they were equally shocked to discover she left work only to put in another shift caring for her mother. Once they realized what their co-worker was up against, they became extra supportive of her and she realized the importance of communication.
That’s not to say that you should constantly talk about your home situation while you’re at work but letting your employer and direct co-workers know when you have an extenuating circumstance at home can be beneficial both to you and to your co-workers.
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The idea of trying to balance elder care and working full-time leads one to having a lot of guilt, which has its effects on the health of the emplyed caregiver. This heavy stress causes the employee to look very carefully at any health benefits available from the workplace where an employer is all ready trying to hold down the costs. What results is that the employed caregiver may even have to reduce the working hours, which in turn, may cause the loss of any health benefits. This whole scene is a lose-lose situation.
The turn around for this is for an employer to provide support for the employed caregiver so that everyone will have a win-win outcome. This is accomplished by an employer taking the time to offer a program designed for the employed caregiver to have a proven method for balancing elder care and accessing resources. All this takes planning on the part of the employer to help reduce absenteeism and promote increased productivity.
The FMLA is a start in the right direction, but is not always the correct solution needed by many emplyed caregivers. The idea of haiving a plan in place to meet these obstacles is very much like having prepared for a natual disaster that we know will change our lives but we just don’t know when. In these hard economic times, it is the opportunity at this time to now prepare for the future.
Blanche Katz,
ElderCare Educator
Home care Giving is typical task to handle. Home care givers have to manage their life style according to their work life. As the most of time of a caregiver is passed on elderly care so he/she can’t give their time to his /her family. It is very crucial situation for every care giver.
Maintaining the dual responsibilities at the same time can make frustrate a person. The caregivers are one of them who use to feel such kind of situations in their lifetime…. They should have to manage their work and lifestyle in a manner so that they can fulfill and devote equal amount of responsibilities to the either sides.
Care home personnel centers are much aware that elderly people will be happier with good caring services because elderly people need raises along with their age. As the age increase the simple task become more difficult for the senior person due to weaken of their body parts.