Eldercare is a growing workplace issue as the numbers of workers caring for an elderly family member rises. Carers UK reports that there are three million working carers, representing one in eight in the workplace; a significant proportion of which are eldercarers. With an ageing population, longer living, extended working lives and a squeeze on social services, the number of working eldercarers is set to soar. The organisation predicts that by 2037 there will be nine million carers in the UK.
Around 85% of these carers, the majority of whom are women, are the ‘sandwich generation’, caring for offspring as well as elderly parents. And there is a growing number of the ‘club sandwich generation’ too; baby boomers taking care of older parents, as well as millennial children and grandchildren.
