A majority of employers in arecent survey say they are providing flexible workoptions, and an increasing number are providing paid leavespecifically for caregiving.

The COVID-19 pandemic has only accentuated the already growingnumber employees shouldering caregiving responsibilities, accordingto the 2019/2020 "Caregiving and the Workplace: Employer BenchmarkingSurvey" by the Northeast Business Group on Health.

"The challenges for employee-caregivers have increasedexponentially as a result of the risk for COVID-19 among older andvulnerable people, social distancing requirements, and 24/7childcare responsibilities," says Candice Sherman, CEO of NEBGH."Employers are trying to increase support for caregiving employeesby providing more back-up help, flexible working hours and accessto expert resources, and some are providing relief funds to helpwith expenses."

Related: How to help employees who are caregivers during theCOVID-19 crisis

The survey of 117 mostly large, U.S. employers was conducted inlate 2019 and early 2020, before the country experienced asignificant coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdown ordersfrom states and cities. The survey results show that caregiving wasalready on the rise among the respondents' workforce.

As a result, a significant majority of the respondents (78percent) say caregiving will be an increasingly important issueover the next five years, and 60 percent say it's already toppriority for them. Nearly half (45 percent) believe they are on parwith similar organizations in developing caregiving-friendlybenefits, while 23 percent see themselves as below or well belowaverage.

A majority (71 percent) of the respondents are providingflexible work options, and an increasing number are providing paidleave specifically for caregiving (23 percent in this year's surveycompared to 11 percent in the 2017 survey). Increasing leave forcaregiving and implementing flexible work arrangements are at thetop of the respondents' caregiving wish lists.

Other key survey findings include:

• 91 percent of employers recognize that caregivers may abandonself-care, a 17 percent increase from 2017.
• Employers know that employees may not be comfortableidentifying their caregiving status to managers – less than 50percent thought they would be.
• 84 percent of employers believe that having acaregiving-friendly workplace is important for retaining andattracting talent – a 9 percent increase from 2017.
• 58 percent of respondents think their C-suite is supportive ofcaregiving policies. – a 14 percent increase from 2017 (but 38percent are not sure how supportive the C-suite would be and thattherefore building a business case is necessary).

The Northeast Business Group on Health also polled 34 Californiaemployers to see how their responses differ from NEBGH respondents,most of who are based in or near New York City. While theirresponses are similar to the topline questions about prioritizingcaregiver needs, there are some key areas in which employersdiffered in their responses, depending on region:

• Only 9 percent of the California employers believe theiremployees are uncomfortable identifying their caregiver status tomanagers or colleagues, vs. 23 percent of NEBGH members.
• But 26 percent of California respondents think employees wouldbe reluctant to use caregiving benefits vs. 10 percent ofrespondents in the NYC metro area.
• 59 percent of the California employers have caregiving leave offour or more weeks, compared to 41 percent of New Yorkcounterparts.
• Subsidized in-home back-up care is offered by less than 50percent of NEBGH employers but roughly three-quarters of theCalifornia employers.
• Access to free/low-cost resources to support caregivers isprovided by 50 percent of California respondents vs. 23 percent ofNEBGH members.
• 47 percent of the California employers who respondedaccommodate flexible schedules versus 39 percent in New York.
• 46 percent of employers from NEBGH have issues communicatingcaregiving benefits to their employees, and 61 percent have thosechallenges in California.
• 45 percent of California employers think they are ahead oftheir peers in offering caregiving-friendly benefits compared to 31percent of NEBGH employers.

Read more: 

• Poor health affects nearly 20 percent ofcaregivers
• How to prepare for the new era ofcaregiving
• Addressing the caregiver crisis in theworkforce