After decades in the workforce, workers in their 40’s and 50’s are often invaluable resources: highly experienced and often possessing deep institutional knowledge, these workers have tremendous potential to drive growth on behalf of their employers and still achieve more in their careers. However, as their parents’ generation ages and requires the aid of their offspring, these same employees often face the squeeze of “the sandwich generation:” providing care for the previous generation as well as the next—all while juggling their own career. The stress of providing dual caregiving is already reaching painful proportions. Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 1 in 4 U.S. adults (23%) are members of the sandwich generation—including nearly half of those ages 40-59.
To better understand this struggle, University of Phoenix Career Institute and Motherly produced the 2025 Career Optimism Special Report Series: Moms in the Sandwich Generation. The results are telling: a shocking 51% of sandwich moms—more than half—have already left a job due to their dual caregiving role. Meanwhile, as 56% of all moms surveyed anticipate they will find themselves in dual caregiving roles, this problem is increasingly impossible to ignore.
Many employers may wish to offer these employees the benefits necessary to help them navigate these circumstances. This can particularly be true for employers hoping to retain employees ages 40-59 who are more likely to find themselves in dual caregiving roles, but who also offer particular value as experienced workers with deep institutional knowledge. To accomplish this, employers must be willing to consider the cost of offering more leave and flexibility to keep these employees in their workforce, specifically by weighing these costs against the considerably more disruptive and expensive process of hiring and training their less experienced replacements. As AI disrupts much of what has become typical practice, it offers a specific opportunity to support sandwich moms, retain these key employees, and position businesses to thrive.
The sandwich struggle
Managing dual caregiving roles impacts more than just the career of those in the sandwich generation. The stress that comes with dual caregiving also comes with extreme emotional costs. The Career Optimism Special Report™ series reveals just how deeply felt this stress can be, with nearly 3 in 5 feeling stressed (59%), while 36% admit to frustration and 29% find themselves feeling isolated.
These negative feelings are doubtless exacerbated by financial burdens; these dual caregivers allocate an average of 52% of their paycheck towards caregiving, as well as 64% of their paid time-off or sick leave. Perhaps most alarmingly, 65% have had to dip into their savings to support their adult dependents.
Between the emotional and financial turmoil, sandwich moms are making the painful decision to put their careers aside, leaving them with a distinct feeling of unfulfillment. More than 3 in 5 (62%) see having a career as a luxury, and 46% have already had their career progression hampered by their dual caregiving role.
Work to do
Consider, once again, how this affects workers in their 40s and 50s. At a moment in their careers where many should be pursuing new goals and achieving new growth, too many are finding themselves forced to pull back, facing financial burdens and stalled careers as a result. Furthermore, their employers—so many of whom would be thrilled to hire or retain resources with their level of experience and know-how—are facing gaps in org charts that these employees once filled.
The costs of losing these employees are very real, especially when considering the time and effort needed to refill their roles, some of which may be impossible to measure. HR and hiring managers understand that replacing a resource can take months or more, with costs reflecting a large fraction of that employee’s annual salary. And even after a new employee has been hired, trained, and onboarded, some losses are impossible to recuperate. Many employees in their 40s and 50s may have spent years—or even decades—at their organizations, becoming integral resources not just for their skills, but for their deep institutional knowledge and ingrained understanding of their employer’s history, procedures, and the nuanced specifics of how they succeed. There’s no tried-and-true way for employers to regain this know-how when an employee leaves their role due to caregiving responsibilities.
Careful calculations
Workers in the sandwich generation are clear about how employers can support them, expressing a need for familiar benefits that include top three considerations such as schedule flexibility (41%), paid time off (34%), and remote work options (32%). Many employers will likely recognize these needs, as well as their cost. As a result, many may conclude that it’s not feasible to offer any more, even for employees they want to support in their dual caregiving roles.
However, weigh those costs against the alternative: the huge cost of hiring, onboarding, and training a replacement; the loss of institutional knowledge; the impacts on morale and culture of losing a valuable colleague due to struggles in their personal life. Once all these are considered, managers may find that the cost of replacement far outweighs the cost of retention.
What’s more, for established and trusted resources, employers do have more than one way to provide the support they need. These employees could be particularly good candidates for upskilling or reskilling. Through this process, these employees may be able to shift to a new role, which can afford them the flexibility and additional financial support they need. Employers, meanwhile, retain a resource who brings even greater value—preserving institutional knowledge while being better positioned to balance dual caregiving responsibilities. It’s a classic example of the reasons managers upskill or reskill existing employees, all through the specific lens of supporting some of their most valuable resources.
Artificial intelligence, real solutions
The benefits of upskilling and resourcing are well-known to employers and employees alike, but today’s business landscape may present a specific opportunity that both can seize upon. As AI reinvents the workplace, employers are already considering which of their employees are the best fit for the new roles this new approach to work may create; in doing so, employers will likely note that many of their experienced employees, including those who manage dual caregiving roles, are uniquely situated to fill those roles.
AI may be an emergent opportunity to support employees in the sandwich generation—but it is not the only one. Employers recognize that these employees, including those in their 40s and 50s, possess unique value to their organization, and that the stress of dual caregiving—while indeed difficult—is no reason for them to leave the workforce. Businesses and employees have the potential to face this problem and create solutions for both current and future generations alike.
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