Washington, DC, Jan. 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Caregiver Action Network (CAN), the nation’s leading family caregiver organization, is proud to highlight the release of The Caring Company, authored by Harvard Business School Professor Joseph B. Fuller and Managing the Future of Work Project Director and Senior Researcher Manjari Raman.
Companies are facing a caregiving crisis—and according to the researchers, they refuse to acknowledge it. Rising health care and professional caregiving costs together with changing demographics over the past few decades have put great pressure on American employees to try to balance work and care responsibilities. Unfortunately, many employers remain largely oblivious to the growing costs of this hidden “care economy”—costs that hurt employers and employees alike.
“This report shows definitively what we’ve been saying for years—that America’s employers are on the verge of a caregiving crisis—and it’s coming whether companies acknowledge it or not,” said John Schall, CEO of Caregiver Action Network. “Although three out of four employees currently have some type of caregiving responsibility, America’s workers are finding it increasingly difficult to balance work and family caregiving responsibilities. Unfortunately, most employers are unaware of the caregiving needs of their employees, which hurts both employers and employees. We’re hopeful that this new report from Harvard Business School will shine a bright light on the need for companies to now address caregiving issues head on.”
“This research reveals the misaligned economics of the care economy and the chasm that exists between employers and employees when it comes to caregiving benefits,” said Joseph B. Fuller, Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School. “It makes clear that businesses can gain a competitive advantage by investing in a care culture. We’re excited to work with Caregiving Action Network to put this research into the hands of corporate leaders and help them spread awareness of these issues and encourage innovation in the care economy.”
Based on a nationally representative survey, the report shows how important and urgent an issue this is and provides common-sense solutions for how employers can support their employees who are providing important care to family and friends.
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About Caregiver Action Network
Caregiver Action Network (CAN) is the nation's leading family caregiver organization working to improve the quality of life for the more than 90 million Americans who care for loved ones with chronic conditions, disabilities, disease, or the frailties of old age. CAN serves a broad spectrum of family caregivers ranging from the parents of children with special needs, to the families and friends of wounded soldiers; from a young couple dealing with a diagnosis of MS, to adult children caring for parents with Alzheimer's disease. CAN (the National Family Caregivers Association) is a non-profit organization providing education, peer support, and resources to family caregivers across the country free of charge.
Contact for Caregiver Action Network:
Jason Crosby
202-454-3931
jcrosby@caregiveraction.org
About the HBS Managing the Future of Work Project
Harvard Business School’s Project on Managing the Future of Work pursues research that business and policy leaders can put into action to navigate the complex, fast-changing nature of work. The Project’s current research areas focus on six forces that are redefining the nature of work in the United States as well as in many other advanced and emerging economies: Technology trends like automation and artificial intelligence; Contingent workforces and the gig economy; Workforce demographics and the “care economy”; The middle-skills gap and worker investments; Global talent access and utilization; Spatial tensions between leading urban centers and rural areas.
About Harvard Business School
Founded in 1908 as part of Harvard University, Harvard Business School is located on a 40-acre campus in Boston. Its faculty of more than 200 offers full-time programs leading to the MBA and doctoral degrees, as well as more than 70 open enrollment Executive Education programs and 55 custom programs, and HBX, the School’s digital learning platform. For more than a century, HBS faculty have drawn on their research, their experience in working with organizations worldwide, and their passion for teaching to educate leaders who make a difference in the world, shaping the practice of business and entrepreneurship around the globe.
Contact for Harvard Business School:
Todd Deutsch
202-551-9847
Todd.Deutsch@edelman.com
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