Elder caregivers and productivity – According to a recent study by MetLife, the average elder caregiver costs an employer $2,110 per year in lost productivity. The total annual cost to employers for lost productivity for working caregivers falls between $17.1 billion to $33.6 billion in lost productivity.
“Working caregivers who juggle work and caregiving responsibilities make many workplace adjustments, such as coming in late or leaving early, reducing their work schedules or dropping out of the workforce entirely,” said Sandra Timmermann, Ed.D., director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute. “Employer costs related to caregiving are often hidden ones and can be significant.”
Timmermann suggests that employers can mitigate losses by implementing eldercare programs for employees, establishing flexible work arrangements, and ensuring that managers demonstrate sensitivity to caregiver needs.
Take the Eldercare Calculator to estimate your company’s costs.
Serious business: worker complaints – Forbes features an article on the importance of handling workplace complaints properly to minimize the potential for lawsuits. The article offers basic rules to follow if you receive a complaint of discrimination or harassment. (Via George’s Employment Blawg). In a related matter, HR Lori discusses a recent same sex harassment suit in California. If you think harassment involves a member of the opposite sex, this may change your mind.
Telecommuting – In his post Telecommuting: More Talk Than Action?, Jim Ware of The Future of Work links to a recent study on telecommuting patterns, preferences, and trends, discusses the results, and offers some recommendations. One eye-opening statistic: “If everyone who could took full advantage of telecommuting, the reduction in miles driven would save $3.9 billion a year in fuel and the time savings would be equal to 470,000 jobs.”
More on Veterans – as a follow-up to our post on helping the military return to work, we noted that the Department of Justice has just launched a site to protect vets’ civilian employment rights by enforcing the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). Thanks to Jottings by an Employer’s Lawyer for letting us know about this.
Bad bosses – here’s a contest you hope your company doesn’t win: Working America invited its readers to submit entries in its My Bad Boss. While he anecdotes are anonymous both in terms of submitters and the nominated bosses, it makes for some interesting reading. Hopefully, you won’t recognize anyone from your leadership team on the list!
UR FIRD… THX 4 TIME – speaking of questionable managerial practices, Gizmodo features a post about a British employee who was terminated by text message.