Are you a carer-friendly colleague, manager or employer?
Last week was Carers Week. I have been touched by the many stories from working carers demonstrating resilience, determination, problem-solving, compassion, love and resourcefulness. Everyone’s caring situation is different but many of the personal challenges in juggling work with caring were similar and included guilt (am I doing enough?), low energy (there is just so much to do), using up holiday leave on caring and finding unpaid carers leave unaffordable. No wonder Carers UK research found 47% of working carers are considering reducing their hours or giving up work. Workers with caring responsibilities already make up 15% of workers and are one of the fastest growing demographics within UK workforce. 600 per day leave their jobs entirely, which is over 200,000 every year. Turnover of working carers is a workforce crisis hiding in plain sight.
People think of what they are doing as helping or familial obligations whilst: juggling work and children, navigating complex national and local government and voluntary sector services, co-ordinating NHS appointments and managing medication, worrying about everyone’s wellbeing and finances. And often deprioritising their own wellbeing, careers and pensions, so this is also a major social issue.
However, I have also been impressed by stories of colleagues and line managers, many with no personal experience of caring themselves, demonstrating the kind of understanding and support which enables carers to feel valued. Research shows that a supportive workplace makes the difference between staying and leaving. More employers like TSB, Virgin Media O2 and Tesco seem to be stepping up to become more carer-friendly, including through flexible working, paid leave, carers’ passports and networks for their working carers.
IES’ 2025 study found some employers struggle to get started on a journey to becoming a more carer-friendly employer. That is often because HR functions have not routinely collected or updated data on caring responsibilities, as they are obliged to for separate protected characteristics. Plus, it can take a long time for people to self-identify as a ‘carer’. According to 2026 research from Carers UK, 38% of carers take three years or more to recognise their caring role. Invisibility comes at a personal cost since employers who want to offer support to job applicants or existing staff with caring responsibilities can really struggle to identify who might benefit from support, and specifically what support each individual needs. So, employers will need to do more than ask ‘are you a carer?’ if they want to identify working carers to offer support. Employers need to describe what they mean by caring responsibilities, and amplify the voices of our colleagues who may not have previously realised they have caring responsibilities.
If you are a colleague, manager or employer who wants to demonstrate your support for working carers, what will you do that is more than you already do? My personal action plan is to:
- Help a colleague realise they may be a ‘carer’
- Have regular conversations about caring and offer any informal support and flexibility that as a team leader I can
- Support one-week paid leave for carers (they so need a rest) by responding to the government consultation on Employment Rights. The consultation is live now: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-rights-for-unpaid-carers-review-terms-of-reference/employment-rights-for-unpaid-carers-review-terms-of-reference
- Open up more about my own experience as a former ‘sandwich’ carer and what my supportive IES employer did that enabled me to stay working on what turned out to be the most rewarding research of my 27-year career (more on this to follow).
- Spread the word amongst employers and people professionals about IES study findings that HR policies alone are not enough: supportive working practices are also needed.
A final thought for employers. You cannot target support, develop interventions and measure their success for individuals and the organisation without identifying who your working carers are. Take a big leap forward on your journey to becoming a more carer-friendly employer by collecting data on caring responsibilities as if it was a separate protected characteristic. That way you can see what size of the issue and the effect of your policies and supportive practices in terms of performance, turnover, progression and sickness.
For information about IES research on working carers, please contact Arundhati Dave [email protected] or Dan Lucy [email protected]
Any views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Institute as a whole.