talent management
The Workforce
Implications of Eldercare
MORE AND MORE CANADIAN WORKERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR CARING
FOR AGING PARENTS, AND EMPLOYERS NEED TO HEED THE CALL
The CIBC report, “Who Cares: The Economics of Caring
for Aging Parents,” should be a wake-up call for all
Canadian employers. The report was based on CIBC’s
Aging Parents Poll, an online survey of randomly selected
adults across Canada, taken March 16 to 20 this year.
The 2016 census from Statistics Canada showed that nearly 17
per cent of Canadians are now 65 and older, a dramatic rise that
will continue in the coming decade. Coupled with that is the fact
that those who will be caregivers to their elderly parents are going
to comprise a much smaller share of the overall economy. Right
now, 2 million Canadians – 14 per cent of those with parents over
age 65 – incur out-of-pocket, direct care-related costs; the average
is $3,300 per year per caregiver.
Workforce-related costs are also climbing. The survey showed
that 30 per cent of workers with eldercare responsibilities sacri-fice
an average of 450 hours away from work each year, or roughly
25 per cent of their total working hours. Women also take 30 per
cent more time off work than men to care for aging parents, which
By Susan Hyatt
Diego Cerva / Shutterstock.com
HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA ❚ SEPTEMBER 2017 ❚ 37