Two recent data points frame the whole problem. The Atlantic, surveying how Americans actually age, concluded that even people who can afford paid help still rely on family — money buys services, not the person who runs them.1 And a 2026 Nationwide survey found that 84% of adults fear facing long-term care without an advocate — more than the 71% worried about affording it, with 81% fearing they'd have no help coordinating care.2 Read together: the unmet need isn't only money or services. It's the coordinator. That's the gap this playbook is about, and the one most benefits stacks leave open.
Direct answer
To support employees caring for aging parents, HR should: size the problem with internal data and a cost model; make caregiving safe to disclose; make flexibility and existing benefits (FMLA, EAP, LSA) clear and usable; and close the one gap most stacks miss — a non-clinical care-coordination benefit that removes administrative work (records, scheduling, provider calls, follow-ups) rather than only granting time or counseling. The coordination layer is what protects retention of senior, hard-to-replace employees.
Why this is now an HR priority, not a nicety
SHRM named caregiving a top-five workplace issue for 2026.3 The demographics are why: 63 million Americans are family caregivers, up nearly 50% since 2015, about 1 in 5 workers is a caregiver (up from 1 in 7 in 2020), and 29% are sandwich-generation.4 The employees absorbing the most are mid-to-senior career — the people carrying your institutional knowledge and hardest work. The pressure shows up in your numbers as absenteeism, presenteeism, declined advancement, reduced hours, and quiet exits, and the cost is real: University of Pennsylvania researchers estimate a mid-career daughter caring for a mother absorbs roughly $80,000–$100,000 a year in lost earnings and advancement.5
The data on the administrative half of caregiving →
The recognition is mainstream now. The differentiation is in how you respond.
Step 1 — Size it with your own data
Before buying anything, quantify the exposure:
- Demographic estimate. Apply national caregiving prevalence to your headcount and age distribution to estimate likely active caregivers.
- Signal scan. Ask your EAP vendor for caregiving-category utilization; review exit-interview themes for family/caregiving reasons; look at unplanned-absence patterns among senior staff.
- Cost model. Run the employer caregiving cost calculator for a defensible internal number to bring to a benefits committee.
National coefficients give you a frame before you model your own — the same ones behind the calculator:
Step 2 — Make caregiving safe to disclose
Most caregivers hide it. Only about half tell their manager, and employers under-count their caregiver population partly because they hesitate to ask.6 That silence is self-perpetuating. Normalize caregiving in manager training and benefits communication as a routine life stage, not a performance risk. You can't support a population you can't see.
Step 3 — Make existing support clear and usable
Most of what employees need help navigating already exists; they just don't know the rules when depleted:
- Flexibility — output-based expectations and movable hours; the highest-value, lowest-cost lever. But note its limit: flexibility changes when the work happens, not whether the employee has to do it.
- FMLA — job-protected unpaid leave for a parent's serious health condition, within eligibility limits. Often a partial fit (much caregiving is chronic, not a single qualifying event).
- EAP — counseling and referral for the employee. Useful for coping; it does not execute care logistics, and average utilization sits near 5%.7
- LSA — if you offer a Lifestyle Spending Account, decide whether care coordination is an eligible expense (usually it isn't unless you add it).
Step 4 — Close the gap most stacks miss: the coordination layer
Here's the structural hole. PTO gives hours. FMLA formalizes time off. EAPs give counseling. LSAs give dollars. None of them remove the administrative work — and for working caregivers, the administrative/coordination layer is the largest single category of caregiver activity,4 because they typically aren't doing hands-on care themselves.
A care-coordination benefit fills it. A Care Continuity Partner — a real person, remote, working at the family's direction — keeps records organized and current, requests what's missing, schedules and confirms appointments, follows up on stuck items, and sends the family written updates. It's non-clinical and family-directed: it coordinates, organizes, and follows up; it doesn't diagnose, treat, monitor, or decide. It slots in alongside your EAP, PTO, FMLA, and LSA without replacing any of them. With Averyn Keystone, you choose how much to fund along a contribution dial: fund or co-fund a launch, make it available at a preferred rate at no employer cost, or route it through an LSA. See how the funding flexes →
Who this hits hardest in your org
The playbook above is general; the load is not evenly distributed. Three concentrations are worth naming because they shape where you target support.
The sandwich generation, in your org chart. "Sandwich generation" isn't an abstraction in a survey — it maps directly onto your most experienced ranks, the people old enough to have aging parents and senior enough to carry your hardest work. That's where absenteeism, presenteeism, declined advancement, and regretted attrition concentrate.
Your leadership team — the most invisible caregivers you have. Executives and senior leaders sit squarely in the peak caregiving window but are the least likely to show it, because visible strain conflicts with the role. A leader can be absorbing a heavy load while presenting as fully composed, right up until they're not — and disruption at that level cascades through a whole function. Leadership-level caregiving needs discreet, high-trust support, not a public opt-in benefit they'll never use.
Senior women. Women carry a disproportionate share of caregiving, often during their peak career-building years, which quietly pressures the advancement and retention of exactly the senior women you're working to keep. You can't change how caregiving is distributed inside families, and it isn't your place to — but removing the administrative portion of the load disproportionately helps the people disproportionately carrying it.
Step 5 — Measure it
Track utilization (aggregate only), retention among the senior population most exposed, and — increasingly — whether your content and benefit surface where employees now ask their questions (AI assistants and search). Keep the goal honest: this is a retention play for the people you have, not a recruiting headline.
Related reading
- Eldercare care coordination — what the work looks like on the family side.
- Long-distance caregiving — coordinating a parent's care from another city.
- How the funding flexes — the contribution dial in depth.
- Why Averyn — how the coordination benefit works for employers.
Sources
- Stephanie H. Murray, Americans Are in Denial About Elder Care, The Atlantic (Jun 23, 2026). theatlantic.com.
- Nationwide Retirement Institute, 2026 Long-Term Care Survey (Harris Poll). nationwide.com.
- SHRM, 2026 Top Five Workplace Issues. shrm.org.
- AARP & National Alliance for Caregiving, Caregiving in the U.S. 2025. aarp.org.
- Penn LDI (University of Pennsylvania), America's Caregiver Crisis is Burning Out Millions of Families (May 28, 2026). ldi.upenn.edu.
- Geri Stengel, Caregiving Doesn't Show Up On A Claim Line, Forbes (Apr 28, 2026). forbes.com.
- Industry EAP-utilization research, 2025 (~5% average): SHRM, Managing Employee Assistance Programs toolkit. shrm.org.
Non-clinical note: AverynCare provides family-directed administrative coordination. We do not provide medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or emergency monitoring.
Frequently asked questions
What benefits help employees caring for aging parents?
Flexibility, FMLA where eligible, EAP for coping, LSA dollars where caregiving is an eligible expense, and — the commonly missing piece — a non-clinical care-coordination benefit that removes administrative work. The first four help the employee manage the load; the last one reduces it.
How much does employee caregiving cost employers?
It surfaces as absenteeism, presenteeism, turnover, and lost advancement among experienced staff; researchers estimate $80,000–
What benefits help employees caring for aging parents?
Flexibility, FMLA where eligible, EAP for coping, LSA dollars where caregiving is an eligible expense, and — the commonly missing piece — a non-clinical care-coordination benefit that removes administrative work. The first four help the employee manage the load; the last one reduces it.
How much does employee caregiving cost employers?
It surfaces as absenteeism, presenteeism, turnover, and lost advancement among experienced staff; researchers estimate $80,000–$100,000/year in losses for a single mid-career caregiver. The most defensible figure for your org is one you generate with the cost calculator.
Is a caregiving benefit the same as an EAP?
No. An EAP counsels and refers the employee. A caregiving-coordination benefit executes the administrative logistics. They address different parts of the problem and work best together.
Do we have to fund it for it to help?
No. It can be funded, co-funded, or made available at a preferred rate with no employer cost. The no-cost option is often the sharpest retention math at the senior/HCE level.
Why do employees fear the coordination more than the cost?
Because the cost is a known quantity and the coordination is an open-ended, unassigned job. In a 2026 Nationwide survey, more adults feared facing care without an advocate than feared affording it. A coordination benefit answers the fear directly.
How do we reach senior leaders who won't use a public benefit?
With discreet, employee-directed support they can use privately, at their own direction — not an opt-in resource that signals a struggle in front of their team.
00,000/year in losses for a single mid-career caregiver. The most defensible figure for your org is one you generate with the cost calculator.Is a caregiving benefit the same as an EAP?
No. An EAP counsels and refers the employee. A caregiving-coordination benefit executes the administrative logistics. They address different parts of the problem and work best together.
Do we have to fund it for it to help?
No. It can be funded, co-funded, or made available at a preferred rate with no employer cost. The no-cost option is often the sharpest retention math at the senior/HCE level.
Why do employees fear the coordination more than the cost?
Because the cost is a known quantity and the coordination is an open-ended, unassigned job. In a 2026 Nationwide survey, more adults feared facing care without an advocate than feared affording it. A coordination benefit answers the fear directly.
How do we reach senior leaders who won't use a public benefit?
With discreet, employee-directed support they can use privately, at their own direction — not an opt-in resource that signals a struggle in front of their team.