As employees struggle to balance the responsibilities of work and caregiving, individual productivity suffers accordingly, inflicting a cost on the employer.

Even though it is mid-February, chances are the fond memories of family gatherings over the holidays remain fresh in our minds. But for many of us, since we are only able to see loved ones once or twice a year, we're a little surprised when we find a parent or grandparent who has started to slow down and become a little forgetful since the last visit. Or you realized they are going to need more help with basic things like cooking, driving and taking care of themselves—probably sooner than later.

Scenarios like these continue to dominate people's thoughts, leaving them unsure of what to do next and distracting them from their daily work; I know because the same thing happened to me after the holidays. I contend that right now, more than any other time of the year, millions of employees are making inquiries about caregiving and long-term care needs. I know from experience that January and February are the busiest times of year for long-term care providers to field questions about new policies. Are caregiving matters something your clients are aware of, or prepared to address?

Related: 10 staggering statistics about caregiving

According to AARP, one in six American workers is serving in a primary caregiving role for a family member or friend. Nearly half of those caregivers are Gen X or millennials. And the need for caregivers will only continue to grow; in just ten years, older adults are projected to outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history.

Yet there remains a sizable gap between the caregiving benefits employers offer and what employees really need. What can you do to provide the right type of benefits to effectively address the issues caregivers face and deliver the relief they are desperately seeking? For me, the issue of caregiving has been woven into the fabric of a career focused on voluntary benefits, but it's also had an impact on a personal level.

The many faces of caregivers

Let's start with a quick look at your workforce, and the wide range of employees who are taking on caregiving responsibilities. They're people just like you and me who may:

• Find themselves in the sandwich generation—raising their own kids while caring for aging parents
• Provide care for their partner during serious or chronic illnesses, like cancer treatment or managing Alzheimer's
• Step in to care for their grandchildren in their parents' absence
• Care for a child who is disabled or has special needs
• Serve as the primary caregiver of a parent because other siblings live farther away

A recent study commissioned by Harvard Business School notes that it's women who shoulder a disproportionate share of these caregiving responsibilities, whether it's working outside the home or in it. And with a rising number of families with a single parent or two working parents, employees will have fewer resources to turn to as they are faced with greater caregiving responsibilities.

Caregiving: It could happen to you

It's a delicate and often overwhelming balancing act, as well as an increasingly familiar scenario: an employee trying to hold down all the taxing duties of a regular job while juggling the often mentally, physically and financially exhausting role as a caregiver when they return home. While most of us recognize that our parents are getting older and may need help eventually, it can still catch us by surprise when that day comes.

I've experienced this personally. I'm in my 50s, busy raising two kids and I recently realized the time had come for my parents to start considering some changes to their living arrangements. They just turned 80, and there are a variety of issues we'll need to navigate, like medical care, financial limitations, legal arrangements, estate planning, assisted living and long-term care options.

The myriad decisions related to all these facets of caregiving—and the time it will take to address them—seems overwhelming. I've worked in the financial services industry for almost 30 years and I'm intimidated by the complexity and the difficulties we face. Which leads me to the question, "What's the perspective of the average employee in your workforce?"

The drain on employee productivity

Unfortunately, helping employees address their personal caregiving obligations is an approach employers almost entirely overlook as a mechanism for maximizing employee productivity and minimizing turnover.

As employees struggle to balance the responsibilities of work and caregiving, individual productivity suffers accordingly, inflicting a cost on the employer. Then, when the emotional and physical stress becomes too much, their capacity for work becomes impaired.

Additionally, it appears that employers have not fully recognized the connection between—and the serious results of—the burden of caregiving and the impact on employee performance. For example, in the Harvard Business School study, only a minority of employers (24 percent) responded that caregiving influenced workers' performance. In contrast, more than 80 percent of employees with caregiving responsibilities admitted that caregiving affected their productivity. As a result, American companies are immersed in a caregiving crisis they may be largely unaware of.

The search for caregiving solutions

How can companies take those first few steps to create a culture that supports caregiving?

First, employers must better understand the toll on employees' daily lives, and ultimately the cost in lost productivity, such as time away from work as well as presenteeism.

Second, recognize the changing demographics in both the caregiver population and in those being cared for, as the U.S. population ages incrementally.

Finally, provide the types of the benefits—whether it's caregiving provider referral services, employee resource groups, flexible time off or work arrangements—that will resonate most with employees and help them deal with all the facets of caregiving.

However, offering dedicated caregiving benefits still seems to be the exception rather than the norm for employers. In a 2018 SHRM employee benefits survey, only 10 percent of employers indicated they provide elder care referral services for employees, and a mere 2 percent provided backup elder care.

What is the right mix of affordable and feasible caregiving benefits employers can offer? Long-term care insurance is a great product that provides significant caregiving benefits and something many employers are still interested in. Yet it is usually an unaffordable option for most of the employee population.

The good news is there are other sources of support available. While most employers haven't taken advantage of them, some are discovering that providing caregiving resources as a voluntary benefit can help alleviate stress for their employees making these decisions, not to mention help them reduce the costs of care. All of this leads to increased employee productivity and retention. For example, many corporate giants, such as Starbucks, Best Buy and TripAdvisor, have turned to third party companies such as Care.com to offer caregiving benefits.

Another way that companies can provide assistance is through voluntary benefits, such as legal insurance plans. Caregiving services—like those that may be included with a legal insurance plan—are an effective, affordable way to prepare for the future.

Caregiving services can offer a two-pronged approach to help employees navigate the medical challenges, lifestyle changes and legal documentation that caregiving often entails. First, you can work with a care advocate who will provide referral services, such as help finding long-term care, assisted living or memory care facilities. Secondly, the caregiver also has access to legal resources, including advice from an attorney or assistance with creating or reviewing important legal documents like a will or power of attorney.

With most legal insurance plans, employees also have access to helpful online resources, ranging from educational articles that empower employees to learn more about their legal issues to "do-it-yourself" documents that facilitate creating legal documents, agreements and contracts on their own.

Overall, as you weigh the facts employers face today and look at the changing dynamics of caregiving, simply ask your clients, "What can we do to make these employees' lives easier, to take some of that pressure off them?" I'd respond by recommending that if you have clients who are looking for a low-cost way to support their employees' needs, start by including some sort of caregiving support as part of their benefits package.

Dennis Healy is a member of the ARAG® executive team. Dennis is a passionate advocate for legal insurance because he has seen firsthand how it helps people receive the protection and legal help they need. He has more than 25 years of insurance industry experience, with a primary focus on the sale of group voluntary benefit products to employer groups of all sizes through brokers, consultants and employee benefit exchanges.