Retirement Isn’t the Only Concern: Are Your Employees Worried About Their Aging Parents?

How HR Can Address the Silent Stressor Impacting Productivity & Retention

For years, HR leaders have been focused on supporting employees through the arc of their careers—onboarding, professional development, benefits education, and, eventually, retirement planning. But today, a growing number of employees are facing a very different kind of challenge. And it’s one that HR departments can't afford to overlook:

🚨 They’re caring for their aging parents—while still working full time.

According to AARP, 1 in 5 employees provides unpaid eldercare support to an older adult. Often, it’s a parent or in-law, and the caregiving responsibilities don’t stop when the employee walks into work. The stress, time, and emotional toll come with them—leading to higher absenteeism, decreased productivity, presenteeism, and even early exits from the workforce.

And here’s the kicker: many of these caregivers are your highest-performing, most experienced mid- to late-career employees. They’re often juggling these responsibilities in addition to planning for their own retirement.

This isn’t just a personal issue. It’s an organizational one.
And HR teams need to be ready.

The Silent Stressor in Your Workforce

Caregiving has traditionally been seen as a personal issue—something employees handle outside of work hours. But that model doesn’t reflect today’s reality.

🧓 The population of adults over 65 is growing faster than ever before.
📉 The availability of professional caregivers is shrinking.
💼 And more employees are stepping into the role of primary caregiver for their aging parents—often with little support.

The Data You Need to Know:

• 1 in 5 U.S. workers is currently providing eldercare support.
• 61% of these caregivers report their responsibilities have affected their employment situation.
• 33% leave work early, 29% miss workdays, and 16% reduce hours to accommodate caregiving.
• 70% report emotional or physical strain that impacts their job performance.
• And only 13% of employers offer eldercare support or resources.

That’s a huge gap—and a growing liability for HR departments.

Why This Matters for Employers

Caring for an aging parent is not like a one-time medical emergency or a scheduled vacation. It’s chronic, unpredictable, emotionally draining, and often financially burdensome.

The Impacts:

• Absenteeism: Employees take more time off to drive parents to appointments, manage home safety crises, or coordinate hospital discharges.
• Presenteeism: Even when they’re physically at work, stress and distraction reduce productivity.
• Morale & Mental Health: Burnout rises. Stress increases. And it becomes harder to retain top talent.
• Delayed Retirement: Many caregivers delay their own retirement because they feel financially or emotionally unprepared to juggle both transitions.

So while you may be investing in 401(k) plans or retirement seminars, your employees might be mentally elsewhere—worrying about how to help mom get up the stairs or how to pay for her home health aide.

The Hidden Cost of Inaction

Failing to support caregiving employees doesn’t just hurt individuals—it quietly chips away at your organization’s bottom line.

📉 Lost productivity
📉 Unscheduled absences and coverage issues
📉 Increased turnover from burned-out workers
📉 Higher healthcare costs due to caregiver stress

And when employees feel unsupported, they’re more likely to disengage, withdraw, or begin looking elsewhere.

Your most loyal, experienced workers are often the ones quietly drowning under the weight of this dual role.

Financial Retirement Tools Aren’t Enough Anymore

Most companies have some form of retirement support in place—whether it’s access to a financial advisor, pension planning, or 401(k) match. But these resources focus on one piece of the puzzle: money.

Retirement is no longer just about a number in a bank account.

It’s about preparing for real life—and that real life often includes:

• Helping aging parents age in place safely
• Managing medical emergencies and long-term care decisions
• Being a medical power of attorney or handling critical documents
• Balancing emotional, physical, and financial caregiving stress

💡 If your retirement resources don’t address these realities, they’re incomplete.

What HR Can Do: Real Support for Real Life

Supporting caregivers doesn’t require a massive overhaul of your benefits package. What it does require is a mindset shift—from financial-only retirement planning to family-ready retirement support.

Here’s what that can look like:

1. Add Caregiving Education to Pre-Retirement Workshops

Just like you help employees plan for their own Medicare transition, long-term care, and health planning, offer sessions that explore:

• The difference between Medicare and Medicaid (especially when helping parents)
• How to navigate eldercare services, including in-home care vs. skilled nursing
• What long-term care insurance covers—and what it doesn’t
• Caregiver leave policies, state benefits, and support programs

📌 These sessions help employees feel more in control—and reduce the number of HR questions and emergencies that hit your desk later.

2. Include Family Aging Questions in HR Readiness Assessments

When assessing whether employees are retirement-ready, add questions like:

• Do you anticipate needing to care for a parent in the next 3–5 years?
• Are you responsible for managing a parent’s finances or medical decisions?
• Would you benefit from resources on eldercare planning?

This helps HR understand who might be at risk for caregiver burnout and proactively offer support.

3. Offer Resources on Home Safety & Aging-in-Place

Many employees are helping their parents stay at home as long as possible—but they don’t know where to start.

👷 Provide resources or workshops on:

• Home safety modifications (e.g., grab bars, fall risk assessments)
• Technology for remote monitoring or medication reminders
• Community programs that support aging-in-place

Bonus: These insights also help employees prepare their own homes for the future—double value.

4. Normalize Caregiving Conversations in Your EAP & Benefits Reviews

Employees often don’t speak up about caregiving until they’re burned out. Make it clear that your company expects and understands this part of life.

✅ Include caregiving check-ins during annual reviews
✅ Train managers on how to have supportive conversations
✅ Make EAP services visible and accessible for those navigating eldercare stress

Caregiving should be treated like any other life stage—it’s not a weakness, it’s a responsibility. And employees need to know your company respects that.

5. Partner with External Experts

If your internal HR team doesn’t have the bandwidth to take this on (and let’s face it—many don’t), bring in expert-led support.

Partner with specialists who can provide:

• Retirement & caregiving workshops tailored to your workforce
• 1:1 guidance for employees navigating Medicare, Medicaid, and caregiving stress
• Checklists and documentation kits for family medical planning

Outsourcing doesn’t just lighten your load—it provides employees with clinical, legal, and emotional guidance that goes far beyond what HR can reasonably manage.

Supporting Caregivers = Supporting Your Business

When employees feel like their family responsibilities are acknowledged and supported, they don’t just perform better—they stay longer.

🧠 They’re more engaged.
💪 They’re less burned out.
🗣 They speak highly of your company culture.

It’s a win-win: less HR crisis management, more employee trust.

Ready to Get Started?

📌 Step 1: Audit your current benefits and retirement education.
Does it include anything about family caregiving or aging parents?

📌 Step 2: Download our Retirement Readiness Assessment to uncover gaps in your pre-retirement and eldercare support.

📌 Step 3: Schedule a quick 15-minute call to explore ways to integrate eldercare planning into your retirement strategy—without overloading your HR team.

Final Thought

Retirement is no longer the only big life transition your employees are facing.
Many are walking into work carrying the invisible weight of their parents’ future.

You don’t need to solve it all—but you can start by asking:
“What else might they need?”

💬 And when you start that conversation, your employees—and your organization—are better for it.