The workplace perspective on supporting family caregivers at end of life: evaluating a new Canadian social program

Abstract

There is a growing realization that employers need to accommodate the issue of work-life balance for employees who are also providing care for family members or friends in palliative or end-of-life situations, as this phenomenon is only expected to increase within developed nations in the future given demographic trends and health care restructuring. This research aims to uncover the expectations that Canadian employers/human resources (HR) professionals have of the Compassionate Care Benefit (CCB), in addition to their experienced realities of having staff utilize this social program. The CCB provides employed family/informal caregivers with a job-secured work leave and six weeks of employment insurance benefits while they take time off to provide care to a dying family member or close other, often at home (in the community). Five focused discussions were implemented with employers/HR across Canada. Using thematic analysis, the data reveal how well (or not) the CCB meets caregivers' needs, as well as the informational and procedural needs of workplaces. In light of these findings, suggestions for program improvement, with respect to the CCB, are made in order to advocate for continued support of family/informal caregivers whose voices are rarely heard.

Il existe une prise de conscience croissante que les employeurs doivent tenir compte de la question de l’équilibre travail-vie pour les employés qui prodiguent des soins palliatifs ou de fin de vie à des membres de la famille ou à des amis, étant donné qu'on prévoit que ce phénomène augmentera dans les pays développés dans l'avenir, vu les tendances démographiques et la restructuration des soins de santé. Cette recherche vise à découvrir les attentes que les employeurs canadiens /ressources humaines (RH) ont au niveau des prestations de compassion, en plus du vécu de leurs employés qui ont utilisé ce programme social. Les prestations de compassion fournissent six semaines d'assurance-emploi aux aidants naturels/membre de la famille salariés qui doivent s'absenter de leur travail pour prodiguer des soins à un membre de la famille mourant ou un proche, souvent à la maison (dans la communauté). Cinq panels de discussion ont été organisés auprès des employeurs/RH à travers le Canada. En utilisant l'analyse thématique, les données révèlent dans quelle mesure les prestations de compassion répondent bien (ou pas) aux besoins des aidants ainsi qu'aux besoins d'information et de procédure des milieux de travail. À la lumière de ces conclusions, des suggestions pour l'amélioration du programme, à l’égard des prestations de compassion, sont formulées en vue de recommander un soutien continu pour la famille/les aidants naturels dont les voix sont rarement entendues.

Keywords:

• Compassionate Care Benefit
• workplace leave
• family/informal caregivers
• workplace stakeholder perspectives
• Canada

Mots-clés:

• Prestations de compassion
• absence du travail
• famille/aidants naturels
• perspectives des intervenants en milieu de travail
• Canada

Acknowledgements

We would first like to thank the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for funding this research and all members of the CCB taskforce for their helpful suggestions during many stages of the research process. Special thanks to all study participants who generously gave their time to attend the focus groups. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2009 International Medical Geography Symposium: many thanks to those delegates who provided constructive feedback.

Notes

1. To clarify, regular EI benefits are based on the number of hours worked within the 52-week timeframe before the claim and are designed to support individuals who have lost their job at no fault of their own or who are looking for employment but unable to secure a position. Regular EI benefits range from 19 to 50 weeks in length (19-week leave corresponding to 420–454 hours of work within the previous 52 weeks to the 50-week leave corresponding to 1820 hours worked within the past 52-week timeframe). There are regional variations across Canada as to how many weeks one is eligible to receive with respect to the amount of hours worked.

2. EI sick leave was commonly promoted before the CCB existed.

3. In 1996, unemployment insurance (UI) became known as employment insurance (EI); the only difference between the two was related to the eligibility requirements. The UI system eligibility was based on the number of weeks worked, while under the EI system eligibility was based on the amount of insurable hours worked (Calder, 2006).