It’s important to have a clear definition of what being a carer means to your organisation. Many people do not identify themselves as carers and may not think to raise any related issues with their manager in the first place. Others might self-identify as carers but may not feel comfortable sharing that information with their employers if they don’t think they would be supportive. Ensuring your organisation has a clear and supportive policy could encourage these carers to seek support when needed. However, a supportive culture goes beyond a written policy by ensuring support is fair and tailored to the needs of individual carers.
Identifying carers and understanding their circumstances is a helpful starting point. This could be done via staff induction, appraisals or employee surveys. Having carer role models who are willing to talk about their experiences at work can help to encourage others to identify themselves as carers and ask for any support they might need.
You may also wish to keep formal records such as creating a ‘carers’ register’, where employees who have indicated they’re carers are listed, enabling access to carers’ leave and other benefits. A voluntary carers’ passport scheme, where employees hold an individual plan detailing their needs and working arrangements is also an option. However, it’s important to regularly update these records as circumstances change, be clear what the data will be used for and emphasise that providing such data is voluntary. You should avoid seeking or recording data regarding the person, or persons, who are being cared for and instead focus on the carer and their needs. All information should be retained confidentially and only be shared with the explicit agreement of the carer concerned.
Carers’ experiences should feed into how support is developed within an organisation, based on regular communication and consultation. A workplace should have a supporting environment where there is no stigma attached to carers identifying themselves. However, carers’ decisions concerning this should be respected, as some may not want to disclose their situation.
Develop a carer policy, framework or guidance
Formally recognising working carers is an important step in creating an organisational culture that’s supportive of working carers. Our research shows that formal recognition of working carers and their challenges supports self-respect – an important contributor to wellbeing. It’s therefore important that carers are recognised within an organisation’s policies and procedures. This might be through a dedicated carers’ policy or with specific mention of carers within existing HR policies.
A carers’ policy, framework or guidance should detail the support provided to carers and how to access that provision. This could include carers’ leave or other special leave arrangements, flexible working options, information on career breaks, access to wellbeing sessions and carers’ support networks. You may wish to distinguish between carer’s rights according to law and additional support offered by your organisation.
You should also link to other helpful services if you offer them, such as occupational health and employee assistance programmes, or external sources of support. Supporting the wellbeing of working carers, such as by offering counselling or wellbeing support, can have positive effects for both work and care.
A mix of solutions could be used, such as flexible working combined with some paid/unpaid time off or special leave. Policies should be developed to be as flexible and beneficial as possible for working carers in different circumstances.
Outline different roles and responsibilities
It’s helpful to outline people’s different roles and responsibilities, so that everyone’s clear on how they can support working carers:
- Employees who are carers should be encouraged to talk to their manager or HR contact if they need support. Together they can explore and agree what support options are possible and suitable.
- HR should provide advice about supporting carers (including leave arrangements) to people managers and employees as necessary. They also have a responsibility to record carers’ leave and inform payroll of any required adjustments to pay and benefits contributions (in some organisations this might also rest with people managers).
- People managers should be familiar with the organisation’s policy, framework or guidance for supporting workplace carers. They should be comfortable having sensitive conversations with working carers and finding out what support they need. They should ensure all employees are aware of the organisation’s approach and understand their own and the organisation’s responsibilities in relation to it.
- Co-workers should be educated on what it feels like to be a working carer and how they can support their colleagues with caring responsibilities.
Communicate your approach and embed a culture of support
Organisations can have great policies and support on paper, but if these aren’t communicated throughout the workplace, they’re likely to be of little benefit. Our research shows that a lack of knowledge about existing support and how to access it were barriers for a significant number of working carers.
Creating a culture of support within an organisation will ensure that carers feel comfortable in the workplace and able to raise any issues they might be experiencing. Good communication of carer policies, frameworks or guidance is essential. This can be achieved by providing information through staff induction, detailing information on the organisation’s intranet or staff message boards and wider workplace awareness-raising sessions. Recognising campaigns such as Carers Rights Day can also help raise awareness.