workplace caregiving

There’s a moment that comes for almost every working adult child caregiver. You’re at your desk. Your phone buzzes — it’s the hospital, or your parent, or your sibling, or the case manager. You step away to take it. When you come back, your morning is gone. Your inbox is fuller. Your manager has already started a meeting without you.

Multiply that moment by enough weeks and you start asking yourself a question: do I tell them?

For a lot of people, the answer is no, not yet, for years on end. They patch it together. They take vacation days for medical appointments. They lie about why they need to leave early. They burn out their PTO, then their sick days, then their goodwill — all without ever saying out loud to their employer what’s actually happening.

That’s the conversation this post is about. Not because every employer will handle it well — many won’t. But because not having the conversation costs you more than having it.

I’ve been on both sides of this — as a caregiver navigating my own work commitments, and as the founder of a Caregiver Competency System EAP that companies buy specifically because they’ve watched too many of their best employees disappear into caregiving roles unsupported. Here’s what I’ve learned actually works.

[Read more…] about How to Talk to Employers About Caregiving Needs