For employees who also care for elderly dependants, the phrase work-life balance takes on a whole new meaning. They suffer with competing demands on their time, energy and emotional resources and this imbalance causes disruption to their family and work life.
In recognition of this issue the government has made inroads into easing the pressure off those who care for elders. The Coalition Government’s Carers Strategy refresh, published in November 2010, includes measures aimed at helping carers with the balance. It covers:
- Extending the right to request flexible working to all employees including new recruits.
- ‘Designing in’ flexible working arrangements in job design and recruitment.
- Developing the first all-age careers service.
- Continuing to invest in supporting carers to return to work through Jobcentre Plus.
- Promoting the growth of assistive living technologies which can also form a key aspect
- in enabling people to balance caring and their paid employment.
- Ensuring carers have informed and responsive line managers.
What the government has tried to stress is that employment is critical for carers. In addressing this employers should be looking to assist in helping employees stay in or return to work or enabling young adult carers to access employment in the first place, that is through a thorough diversity scheme.
Of the measures mentioned above, flexible working has emerged as being able to offer employees a greater sense of responsibility, ownership and control of their working life. Thus if a manager helps an employee to balance their work and home life this can be rewarded by increased loyalty and commitment. This flexibility often lightens the load carried by working carers and this means that whilst at their paid employment they are likely to work more effectively and efficiently.
The advantages of flexible working are so apparent that carers of adults now have the right to it. In order to benefit from that right they must, however, be a carer as described in law. The definition of carer is an employee who is or expects to be caring for an adult who:
- is married to, or the partner or civil partner of the employee; or
- is a relative of the employee; or
- falls into neither category but lives at the same address as the employee.
The Work and Families Act 2006 and the Employment Rights Act 1996 give working carers rights to help them manage their work and caring role, including the right to request flexible working. Flexible working can take many forms and includes compressed or annualised working hours; term-time working; job-sharing; part-time working; working from home or through use of a telephone.
In order to request flexible working you must have 26 weeks of continuous employment and your employer is obliged to seriously consider your proposal.
There may be times when you have to leave work to assist an elder as a matter of emergency, this is known as time off for dependants. It is a legal right given to all employees (not just carers) to take a ‘reasonable’ amount of time off work to deal with an emergency involving a dependant. Whether the time off is paid or not is at the discretion of the employer.
Furthermore, the Equality Act 2010 protects carers from unfair treatment from employers and service providers. In 2008 the European Court of Justice ruled that laws relating to the discrimination of disabled people should also apply to their parents or carers. This right was incorporated in the Equality Act 2010 and is known as ‘associative discrimination’. This occurs in the same way as direct discrimination against a person because of their association with someone who has one of the ‘protected characteristics’. Generally this might include a person of a certain belief or religion but here it includes those associated, that is, carers, with elders or dependants of some kind. Employers therefore, should exercise care if making a decision to dismiss an employee who has care responsibilities as it is possible that it could be construed as a form of discrimination.
When looking to the future the employer should be flexible in its recruitment and retention of staff. Communication is key and employers need to demonstrate their support for carers paying particular attention to the managers who handle the implementation of such practices.
As with any change in the law, these additions to employee protection have arisen from a societal need. It is important and prudent for employers to practice their ability to accommodate such employees now as it is estimated that by 2017 we will reach the tipping point for care. The employer who does act flexibly and with due consideration might find that their actions are rewarded through increased loyalty and efficiency from their employees and will be much better placed for a time when flexible working is more the norm than the established full time worker.