"The challenges for employee caregivers have increased exponentially as a result of the risk for COVID-19 among older and vulnerable people, social distancing requirements, and 24/7 child care responsibilities," said Candice Sherman, CEO of the Northeast Business Group on Health (NEBGH), an employer-led coalition. "Employers are trying to increase support for caregiving employees by providing more backup help, flexible working hours and access to expert resources, and some are providing relief funds to help with expenses."
In late 2019 and early 2020, NEBGH and AARP surveyed benefit managers at 119 mostly large U.S. employers. The survey, a follow-up to one conducted in 2017, found that more employers now provide paid leave specifically for caregiving—23 percent of respondents do so, up from 11 percent in 2017.
But while 61 percent of benefit managers said caregiving is a top priority for them, and 45 percent believe they are on par with similar organizations in developing caregiving-friendly benefits, almost a quarter (22 percent) see themselves as below or well below average, "a clear sign there is much room for improvement," Sherman said.
The guide—released in partnership with the nonprofit website One Mind PsyberGuide—comes as the demand for mental health services reaches unprecedented levels during the Covid-19 crisis.
The guide outlines the return on investment—between $2 and $4 for every dollar spent on mental health—as well as the advantages and challenges of offering virtual services. It also evaluates two dozen mental health digital solutions, including through what conditions they target, what types of interventions they offer and whether they have participated in published studies that evaluate their results.
Employers also should determine what objectives they're looking to achieve by offering virtual mental health solutions as well as how they plan to effectively engage their employees.
"Employers are faced with a multitude of options when considering digital solutions for mental health," said Stephen Schueller, executive director of PsyberGuide, in a statement. "This often leads to pitch fatigue; employers are approached by various companies and may not know what else is out there and what might be able to meet their needs."
Employers tend to find that multiple providers and vendors approach them selling mental health apps, said Cunningham-Hill. "They struggle to find out which one is the best one."
Funding for the guide was provided by the Bowman Family Foundation, Aetna and Johnson & Johnson. —Jennifer Henderson
Guide Helps Employers Compare Mental Health Apps
A new guide, Digital Tools and Solutions for Mental Health, developed by the Northeast Business Group on Health (NEBGH) and One Mind PsyberGuide, provides HR and benefits leaders with information to navigate through the maze of mental health apps.
"Digital technologies have the potential to revolutionize treatment for mental health conditions," said Mark Cunningham-Hill, medical director at NEBGH, an employer-led coalition. "These solutions can provide valuable new services that make mental health support more accessible and reduce barriers due to stigma."
He added, "With the country now in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic, the value of these tools that provide virtual solutions has increased exponentially."
The guide lists two dozen mental health apps and their key features, including what conditions each tool targets (such as stress, depression, anxiety) and the types of intervention it offers (such as coaching, mindfulness meditation, clinical therapy).
It has a checklist of key considerations for employers when evaluating and selecting a digital mental health solution, and features case studies of four major employers that have been using mental health apps for their employees.
The Northeast Business Group on Health has received a $150,000 grant from the New York Community Trust to help improve access to behavioral health care for people in the city, Long Island and Westchester County with employer-sponsored insurance.
The funding is for the first two years of the business group's participation in the new Path Forward for Mental Health and Substance initiative.
Late last year the group was tapped to lead one of the initiative's eight regional employer stakeholder engagement teams. The goal is to leverage the influence of employer and other health care purchaser members to work with health plans, hospital systems and stakeholders to better address behavioral health care.
The grant will support surveying members to identify access and payment challenges as well as collecting studies on cost and data and policy information to support employers in health plan negotiations, among other efforts, the business group said.
Though the Path Forward initiative was started before the Covid-19 pandemic, it's now even more relevant.
"The mental health challenges that all of us face are more critical than ever, and they are not going to come to an end if and when this crisis comes to an end," said Candice Sherman, CEO of the business group. "There will be emotional fallout."
Telehealth, which has rapidly increased in the past two months, was already one of the initiative's five areas of focus.
"This Covid-19 crisis has really opened the door to a much more extensive use of telehealth for mental health and substance-use disorders," Sherman said. "One of the questions that we would like to pursue is how we can engage stakeholders to really make telehealth part of the new normal." —J.H.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, various issues have arisen in the benefits space. Perhaps none more prudent than the need for caregiving benefits as many employees shoulder the responsibility of taking care of children or sick parents.
However, according to a survey by the Northeast Business Group on Health (NEBGH), United States employers were already making caregiving benefits one of their top priorities before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey of 117, mostly large, U.S. employers found more than three quarter of respondents (79%) said caregiving will be an increasingly important issue over the next five years. The survey was conducted in late 2019 and early 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic has only accentuated the already growing number employees shouldering caregiving responsibilities, according to the 2019/2020 “Caregiving and the Workplace: Employer Benchmarking Survey” by the Northeast Business Group on Health.
“The challenges for employee-caregivers have increased exponentially as a result of the risk for COVID-19 among older and vulnerable people, social distancing requirements, and 24/7 childcare responsibilities,” says Candice Sherman, CEO of NEBGH. “Employers are trying to increase support for caregiving employees by providing more back-up help, flexible working hours and access to expert resources, and some are providing relief funds to help with expenses.”
Even before the novel coronavirus pandemic, U.S. employers were increasingly prioritizing caregiving benefits, according to new research from Northeast Business Group on Health. A survey of 117 employers conducted in late 2019 and early 2020 found that more than three-quarters of respondents (78%) said caregiving would be an increasingly important issue over the next five years.
Over half (60%) of respondents said caregiving was a top priority for them, but there was a lot of room for improvement: 45% said they were on par with similar organizations in developing caregiving-friendly benefits, while 23% said they were below or well below average.
The number of employees shouldering caregiver responsibilities has been rising, even before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey by Northeast Business Group on Health. Now, more than ever, employers need to be prioritizing benefits to fit the needs of these employees.
“The challenges for employee-caregivers have increased exponentially as a result of COVID-19,” says Candice Sherman, CEO of NEBGH. “Employers are trying to increase support by providing more back-up help, flexible working hours and access to expert resources, and some are providing relief funds to help with expenses.”
79: Percentage of employers who say caregiving will be an increasingly important issue over the next five years
In a survey of 117 mostly large U.S. employers by the Northeast Business Group on Health, more than three quarters of respondents (79%) said caregiving will be an increasingly important issue over the next five years. The survey was conducted in late 2019 and early 2020. Meanwhile, while nearly half (45%) believe they are on par with similar organizations in developing caregiving-friendly benefits, almost a quarter (22%) see themselves as below or well below average, a sign there is much room for improvement.
As millions of employees are faced with balancing work with caregiving responsibilities, companies are increasingly prioritizing benefits to help them do so.
The trend started before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new survey by the Northeast Business Group on Health. However, additional efforts are needed to help employers avoid higher health care costs and lower productivity.
Nearly 80% of survey respondents said they believed caregiving would be an increasingly important issue for the foreseeable future. The survey compiled feedback from 117 mostly large U.S. employers and was conducted in late 2019 and early 2020. About one-third of participants were organizations based in or near the city.
Though close to half of respondents felt they were on par with similar organizations in developing caregiving benefits, about a quarter viewed themselves as below or well below average—"a clear sign there is much room for improvement," NEBGH said.
"Caregiving is becoming an increasingly important issue, and it will become even more important over the next five years," said Candice Sherman, CEO of NEBGH. That's due in part to a rapidly aging population, millennial workers who take care of both parents and children, and gaps in the health care system for people who are ill and aging but not yet ready to enter a nursing home or other facility.
"I do think the current crisis has underlined the need for employers to be thinking about how to support their employee caregivers," Sherman added.
Data show that employees who shoulder caregiver responsibilities are more apt to have chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease, as well as mental health issues, including anxiety and depression, she said. And companies are more often recognizing that it is difficult for people to care for themselves while caring for others, which can lead to burdens on employers, such as higher health care costs.
The vast majority of survey respondents—91%—recognized that caregivers may abandon self-care, a 17% increase from a study in 2017, NEBGH said. At the same time, though more than half of respondents thought their C-suite-level executives were supportive of caregiving policies—a 14% increase from 2017—nearly 40% were not sure how supportive the C-suite would be. The latter group believed that building a strong business case for caregiving benefits would be needed to secure leadership buy-in.
Other findings from the survey were that more employers are providing paid leave specifically for caregiving, and increasing leave for caregiving and implementing flexible work arrangements were at the top of benefit managers' wish lists.
The environment for recruiting and retaining valuable employees is competitive, Sherman said. "People were really looking to see the kinds of benefits companies were offering," she said. "I also think it's helpful to understand that, even in an environment in which companies are stressed financially, there certainly are things they can do to help employees balancing caregiving."
That may include low-cost offerings such as flexible work hours, the ability to work from home, virtual employee support groups to exchange tips and best practices, and even simple guidance as to what resources are available in the community, Sherman said.
"The crisis has socially distanced people, and that means that more people are trying to figure out how to get care for loved ones who they cannot physically get close to," she added. "I would imagine there are innovators who would really be thinking about more tools and technology to help people do that."
Robert Stephen, vice president of caregiving and health at AARP, also noted the importance of employer support for caregivers, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. Employers are a valuable source of information for caregivers to stay connected to and a source of potential benefits, he said.
AARP provided financial support for the NEBGH survey and earlier this month launched a portal for caregivers looking for additional resources during the pandemic.
Though AARP has focused on support for caregivers for decades, when the coronavirus hit, it realized things were going to shift a great deal, Stephen said.
Some of the areas of work have been self-care, guidance on loved ones in nursing homes and long-term-care facilities, and telehealth temporarily covered in part by Medicare, he said. Additionally, he said he believes the pandemic may lend greater awareness to some of the day-to-day challenges caregivers face.
Those can include feeling isolating and experiencing financial woes during normal times, Sherman said.
"Caregiving will only become more important over the years to come," she said. "We think about it as the tip of the iceberg." —Jennifer Henderson