The Future of Work Is the Future of Care
Originally published in Stars and Stripes
By Wendi Safstrom and Steve Schwab
Wendi Safstrom is president of the SHRM Foundation. Steve Schwab is CEO of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation.
Every career intersects with care; at some point, nearly all of us will balance the demands of work with the needs of someone we love — a parent, a spouse, a friend, a child. Caregiving connects us all, yet it remains one of the most overlooked realities in America’s workforce.
Recently, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and SHRM Foundation launched a national initiative to transform how employers support caregivers. We convened more than 200 business, HR, health care, policy, and research leaders for a candid conversation. Our message was clear: caregiving isn’t a personal matter on the margins of work; it’s a defining workforce challenge at the heart of talent, productivity, and growth.
The scope is vast and growing. Nearly 3 in 4 workers in the United States today carry some form of caregiving responsibility, according to the Harvard Business Review. They show up to work each day while managing medical appointments, medications and care plans for loved ones at home. In fact, 1 in 4 Americans belongs to the “sandwich generation,” caring for both children and aging family members.
New research from SHRM finds that 40% of working caregivers say their responsibilities have affected their career advancement. Nearly half would change jobs for better support, and 74% of unemployed caregivers who want to return say caregiving gaps hurt their re-entry. These are not isolated stories — they’re signals that our systems must urgently adapt.
The business case is undeniable. Companies that treat caregiving support as core strategy see stronger engagement, higher retention, and better performance. In today’s labor market, this isn’t a nice-to-have — it’s what sets great employers apart.
The Elizabeth Dole Foundation has spent more than a decade alongside the 14.3 million Americans caring for wounded, ill or aging service members and veterans. RAND’s recent study, commissioned by the Foundation, found that these caregivers lose, on average, upward of $13,000 each year due to out-of-pocket expenses associated with their caregiving responsibilities and forgone income. When we build systems that work for them, we build systems that work for everyone.
Our partnership unites SHRM’s reach among employers and policymakers with EDF’s insights from the caregiver community. Together, we aim to galvanize employers, policymakers, NGOs and advocates around a singular future where every caregiver can thrive at work and at home, without having to choose between the two.
So what does that future look like? It begins with embedding the infrastructure of care into the infrastructure of work.
Start by expanding flexible scheduling and remote options, offering accessible leave, providing backup care and counseling, and creating return-to-work pathways for those who’ve stepped away to provide care.
Ensure that workers feel safe to self-identify as caregivers at work and be clear that your priority is to allow them to fulfill their potential as employees while also giving the care required of them, without affecting the worker’s career path.
Equip managers to lead with empathy and predictability and provide clear guidance that helps managers plan coverage, set expectations, and support caregivers without stigma. When managers are trained and empowered, policies become culture — and organizations keep their best people.
Make sure caregiving support and benefits are communicated, trusted and utilized. Benefits only help when employees are aware of what’s on offer, trust the intent, and feel empowered to access the benefit without risk. And provide tools and resources that help them continue to be productive members of the team, not just time off.
Finally, rethink how you define and evaluate talent. Caregivers may have résumé gaps, but the skills they have learned and honed within those gaps are crucial to the future of work: time management, crisis response, resourcefulness, emotional intelligence. Those qualities strengthen teams.
Momentum is building. Leading employers like Hilton, Cisco and Salesforce are integrating caregiver supports into workplace strategy, forming caregiver employee groups, and partnering with nonprofits to meet employees where they are. Now, let’s scale what works.
Our call to employers is simple: show up, lead with compassion, and operationalize caregiving support as a core part of your culture. Understand that taking care of caregivers is good business. Audit policies through a caregiver lens. Embrace that flexibility doesn’t have to mean reduced productivity. Measure outcomes — retention, engagement, time to fill, productivity — and iterate. Above all, listen to caregivers. Those closest to the challenge are closest to the solution.
Supporting working caregivers isn’t charity. It’s good business, good policy, and good leadership. It strengthens families, companies and communities alike. SHRM Foundation and Elizabeth Dole Foundation invite you to join a national movement to align data, leadership and policy in service to the people who keep both families and organizations running.
When we invest in care, we invest in people. And when we invest in people, everyone thrives.