How do middle-aged employees combine work with caring for elderly parents?

Gautun, Heidi; Hagen, Kåre Birger

doi:10.1080/13668800903360625

Cited by 51 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Indeed, a large literature shows that it is quite common for working caregivers to report work absenteeism and decreased productivity due to caregiving duties, and that the need to balance work and eldercare has caused them worries, anxiety, and stress (Duxbury et al 2009;Edlund 2007;Gautun and Hagen 2010). Such implications may reflect the pressures of an employment structure not organized to facilitate employees' fulfillment of family-care responsibilities (Marks 1998).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, employed caregivers report a number of ways in which caregiving responsibilities have negative impacts on their work, such as time lost from work, decreased productivity, missed career opportunities, unpaid leaves of absence, early retirement, and decreased lifetime earnings (Edlund 2007). Similarly, in a Norwegian study of working parental caregivers aged 45-66, 57 percent reported problems in combining employment and care for older parents during the previous year, with 20 percent absent from work for a certain period for this reason (Gautun and Hagen 2010). The most frequently reported effects of care obligations on their work were irregular attendance at work, poor concentration, and being prevented from participating actively in social and career-promoting activities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, employee rights are more generous in Norway than in most other countries (Chung and Tijdens 2013), which may make it less burdensome to combine work and care. Even though there are no special arrangements to facilitate workers in their caring for a frail partner or parent, employee rights and arrangements that apply to all employees can make it easier to manage such a squeeze (Gautun and Hagen 2010). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Feeling the squeeze? The effects of combining work and informal caregiving on psychological well-being

Hansen¹,

Slagsvold²

2014

Eur J Ageing

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Does employment provide respite or add stress to caregivers? As a result of population aging and increasing female employment rates, growing numbers are facing the competing demands of paid work and caregiving. This study explores the effect of providing regular personal care by employment status on six dimensions of psychological well-being. We concentrate on partner and parent care recipients and differentiate between in-household and out-of-household caregiving. We use cross-sectional data from the Norwegian Life Course, Ageing and Generation study (n = 11,047, age 25-64). Results indicate that out-of-household caregiving has no significant relationship with men or women's well-being, irrespective of employment status. In-household caregiving, however, relates to lower psychological well-being, but only among women who do not work full-time. The advantages of fulltime employment to caregivers may be due to greater opportunity to achieve the full benefits that this role has to offer. There is little to suggest that combining work and caregiving harms well-being. In fact, a ''double burden'' seems to be experienced by women who combine extensive caregiving with limited employment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Feeling the squeeze? The effects of combining work and informal caregiving on psychological well-being

Hansen¹,

Slagsvold²

2014

Eur J Ageing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…These effects could lead to fewer promotions and may partly explain why caregivers tend to earn less. For instance, a survey among Norwegian caregivers (Gautun & Hagen 2010) suggests that caregiving often leads to late arrival or early departure from work (16%), the need to reschedule the work day (13%), and/or problems concentrating during work hours (10%). On the other hand, in terms of labor force participation, the survey also indicates that most caregivers try to combine work and care by using accumulated holidays (31%) and flexible working hours (15%), with only a few reducing their work hours.…”

Section: Quality Of Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Informal Caregiving on Caregiver Employment, Health, and Family

2015

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E S ABSTRACTImpacts of Informal Caregiving on Caregiver Employment, Health, and Family *As the aging population increases, the demand for informal caregiving is becoming an ever more important concern for researchers and policy-makers alike. To shed light on the implications of informal caregiving, this paper reviews current research on its impact on three areas of caregivers' lives: employment, health, and family. Because the literature is inherently interdisciplinary, the research designs, sampling procedures, and statistical methods used are heterogeneous. Nevertheless, we are still able to draw several conclusions: first, despite the prevalence of informal caregiving and its primary association with lower levels of employment, the affected labor force is seemingly small. Second, such caregiving tends to lower the quality of the caregiver's psychological health, which also has a negative impact on physical health outcomes. Third, the implications for family life remain under investigated. The research findings also differ strongly among subgroups, although they do suggest that female, spousal, and intense caregivers tend to be the most affected by caregiving.JEL Classification: E26, J14, J46

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“…However, an important dimension here concerns the problems that arise for those people combining work with informal care (e.g. Austen and Ong 2010; Gautun and Hagen 2010;Yeandle and Buckner 2007). The difficulties of reconciling employment and substantial care-giving have been studied across a number of European countries, with some evidence of a link with early retirement (Arksey et al 2005;Forma 2009;Masuy 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Masters of their own time? Working carers’ visions of retirement

Leinonen

2011

Eur J Ageing

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Retirement is often seen as a period dedicated to the enjoyment of one's own leisure interests after many years of gainful employment. On the other hand, retired people are expected to remain productive by continuing to work, volunteering or by being involved in various caring tasks. When do Finnish working carers plan to retire and how do they envisage the weight of their care commitments related to other activities once they have left full-time work? The 19 female interviewees were born in 1953 or earlier, and they helped their parent(s). They were working full-time or part-time or were semi-retired at the time of the interview. The interviewees were selected from a larger sample of working carers. The future prospects of the interviewees are given in terms of their different visions of retirement activities, and principles of qualitative analysis are applied. Some interviewees indicated that helping their parent(s) would be an essential part of their personal retirement activities, and some of them had chosen or were considering part-time retirement in order to have more time for their parents. However, the interviewees often also stressed that they wanted to have time to pursue their own personal work and leisure interests after leaving full-time employment. Persons approaching their own retirement want to be 'productive' but they also want to ensure that they retain a certain amount of individually defined 'personal-time'. Leaving gainful employment does not necessarily mean leaving 'productive roles' as citizens. However, pensioners' contributions as carers are socially and personally meaningful only if the pensioners' different valuations regarding the future are respected.

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How do middle-aged employees combine work with caring for elderly parents?

Cited by 51 publications

References 16 publications

Feeling the squeeze? The effects of combining work and informal caregiving on psychological well-being

Feeling the squeeze? The effects of combining work and informal caregiving on psychological well-being

Impacts of Informal Caregiving on Caregiver Employment, Health, and Family

Masters of their own time? Working carers’ visions of retirement

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