Have a Job to Fill? Why Don’t You Give Family Caregivers a Chance?
Sept. 2021
By NTI
As businesses in the United States struggle to fill open positions, they may be overlooking a large group of people who are looking for work or looking to get back into the workforce, family caregivers.
There are more than 27 million caregivers in the United States who are unemployed, underemployed, or are working part-time looking for full-time employment, according to the The Harvard Business School and Accenture study, Hidden Workers: Untapped Talent.
A Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers national survey, Working While Caring, says nearly two in 10 employees were forced to leave their jobs to focus on their care giving responsibilities.
“In that situation, people are being forced to make difficult decisions, especially during COVID-19,” said Alan Hubbard, NTI’s chief operating officer. “Often it can come down to working or staying home to take care of a loved one. This can put them into a difficult financial situation.”
Attracting or maintaining employees who are struggling with care giving responsibilities is one way to increase your applicant pool when staffing positions. Options like remote work or flexible schedules are two ways to help keep family caregivers at work.
When family caregivers, go back to work, they are often faced with the obstacle of having been out of the workforce for an extended period of time. With the automation of reading resumes, job seekers, including family caregivers, with gaps can be left out of the hiring process.
“With a shortage of workers, companies have to be more understanding of people who have been out of the workforce to be caregivers,” said Hubbard. “You don’t want to lose out on having quality and talented people working with you just because of a gap in their resume.”
In an article by Forbes Magazine, Ramona Schindelheim, editor-in-chief of WorkingNation, a nonprofit focused on helping Americans get jobs and stay employed said "Employers and hiring managers are missing out on potentially great employees by using AI-driven screening tools. Take, for example, filters that leave people without college degrees out of the candidate pool. A degree is not the same thing as a skill. Your experience as a problem-solver or a leader isn't determined by a piece of paper."
Life experiences from dealing with a disability and being a family caregiver can also be a great way to gain problem solving and time management skills.
A nonprofit organization, NTI helps Americans with disabilities and family caregivers find at-home employment working in call centers for Fortune 500 companies, government organizations, and large and small businesses. You can register for free training and job placement services at www.nticentral.org.