How Businesses Save Millions While Boosting Employee Well-Being
Caregiving is one of the most urgent workplace issues of our time, and one of the most overlooked. Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. adults, about 63 million people, are family caregivers, a 50% increase since 2015. Most (70%) are also employees, balancing full-time jobs with the needs of children, aging parents, or loved ones managing chronic conditions.
That balancing act carries a steep cost. Nearly one in three employees has left or changed jobs due to caregiving demands. For those who stay, the strain shows up as absenteeism, turnover, increased healthcare costs, and lost productivity. With employer-sponsored healthcare costs projected to rise 9% in 2025, to more than $16,000 per employee, and benefit expectations shifting fast, the cost of ignoring caregiver support is no longer sustainable.
Why now is the time to offer caregiver benefits
Several significant ongoing trends make caregiving support a business-critical investment:
An aging population with fewer care resources
The U.S. population over 65 is growing faster than the long-term care workforce, pushing more responsibility onto families. The cost of elder care continues to climb, as do requests for help, with assisted living requests up 28% and financial assistance requests up 22% in our 2025 Employee Caregiver Top Needs Report. Families are also navigating growing complexity in Medicare and Medicaid, with requests for guidance surging 71% last year.
Return-to-office pressures and the childcare crisis
Childcare remains the top need among working parents, making up 73% of all requests at Cariloop. Costs for full-day care rival housing in some regions, while staffing shortages and facility closures make reliable options harder to secure. Return-to-office policies have amplified the childcare challenge, forcing parents to reorganize care on short notice. Without support, parents lose up to 16 workdays per year to childcare disruptions.
Growing sandwich generation demands
The sandwich generation — employees caring for both children and aging parents — is expanding as people have children later in life and parents live longer with complex health needs. Today, nearly 3 in 10 caregivers fall into this group, up from 23% a decade ago, and among caregivers under 50, almost half juggle dual caregiving roles. As this population grows, so does the risk of burnout, absenteeism, and costly turnover without meaningful employer support.
Rising mental health and chronic condition challenges
Employees are facing a dual crisis: managing their own mental health needs while caring for family members with ongoing conditions. Mental health is declining, with depression rates at a historic 28.5% in 2025, driven by workplace stress, burnout, and financial pressures from rising housing, childcare, and food costs. At the same time, three-quarters of U.S. adults live with at least one chronic condition and more than half with multiple, fueling a surge in healthcare spending and burnout.
Expanding family-building and women’s health needs
Family-building and women’s health are becoming central to workforce support. At Cariloop, requests for pregnancy and postpartum resources rose 29% year-over-year, underscoring the need for more comprehensive care. Employers are beginning to respond, with 42% now offering family-building benefits like fertility treatments, adoption, and surrogacy. Expectations are highest among younger employees: 75% of Gen Z and 69% of Millennials say these benefits influence their choice of employer.
It’s time to step up and meet working caregiver needs
Taken together, these trends make a strong case for employer-sponsored caregiver support. Employees are signaling what they want: 92% say they need more support from their employers, especially access to trusted providers, financial aid, and planning help.
Employers who fail to act will face higher costs, greater turnover, and lower productivity. Employers who do act will stand out as people-first organizations, building loyalty, attracting top talent, and creating workplaces where employees can thrive today and in the years ahead.
Why employers hesitate to offer caregiver support
If the need is so clear, why haven’t more employers responded? Four barriers show up again and again:
- Lack of awareness of how caregiving affects performance
- Fear of added costs
- Stigma around talking about caregiving at work
- Limited knowledge of what solutions exist
Even well-intentioned companies often miss the mark. Flexibility alone isn’t enough. Leave policies and schedule adjustments are valuable, but they don’t solve the core problem: employees still spend hours navigating care systems and scrambling for resources. Without scalable, hands-on solutions, caregiving pressures continue to drive hidden costs. The wrong benefits, or poorly communicated ones, can cost as much as no benefits at all.
The ROI of caregiver support solutions: retention, productivity, and savings
The business case for caregiver support is clear. Benefits that help employees manage care at home pay off at work across retention, productivity, healthcare savings, and culture.
Increased Retention
Every time a trained employee walks out the door, companies lose 50–200% of that person’s salary in replacement costs. And caregiving is one of the biggest reasons people leave: three in four employees considering a job change now cite caregiving as a factor. With the right support, those departures become far less likely. In fact, 81% of employees say they would stay in their role if their employer offered caregiving benefits.
Reduced absenteeism
Nearly one in four caregivers misses work in a given month because of care demands. Those surprise absences slow projects, push overtime costs up, and add pressure on coworkers. With the right support in place, avoidable absences drop. Nearly 80% of Cariloop members avoided unplanned leave or PTO after receiving guidance from a Coach.
Reduced presenteeism
Caregiving strain often shows up quietly. People may be at work, yet distracted, stressed, or stretched thin. This kind of “presenteeism” can cost employers more than absenteeism because it lasts longer and stays hidden. Support helps employees refocus and stay grounded during the workday, which cuts productivity losses, reduces errors, and prevents eventual absenteeism.
Increased productivity
Absenteeism and presenteeism drain output. A caregiving benefit shifts that by giving employees support and practical resources that save time and energy. Each time an employee uses Cariloop, they gain about 12 hours they would have spent researching, calling, or coordinating care. Across a team, this adds up to thousands of hours returned to meaningful work and steadier performance.
Improved engagement and morale
Culture and morale benefit, too. Employees who feel understood and supported are more engaged and loyal. Companies that invest in caregiver support see engagement rise by nearly 50%. At Cariloop, 89% of employees say they view their employer more positively after receiving support. That kind of goodwill translates into stronger teams and a culture where people want to stay and grow.
Reduced healthcare costs
Caregiving stress doesn’t stop at the office door. It impacts employees’ personal health. More than 40% of family caregivers report two or more chronic conditions. When left unaddressed, those challenges drive up healthcare spending and lead to costly leaves. Offering support helps prevent burnout and keeps healthcare costs under control for both employees and employers.
Recruitment Advantage
Caregiving support is becoming a recruiting edge. In a competitive hiring market, candidates are drawn to employers who see and support the whole person. One Cariloop client described it as a “light bulb moment” during interviews, saying that when candidates hear caregiver support is part of the package, they stop thinking of themselves as prospects and start imagining themselves as future employees.
Caregiver support as a business strategy
Supporting caregivers delivers measurable ROI, and failing to act creates hidden costs that no business can afford. Caregiver benefits reduce turnover, cut healthcare costs, boost engagement, and improve productivity. They also strengthen culture and help your organization stay competitive in a market where candidates expect meaningful support..
Cariloop helps employers with a predictable, scalable, and flexible solution. Our Caregiver Support PlatformⓇ is proven to deliver an average 3x return on investment, as well as reduced employee leave durations and return-to-work ratios by supporting the daily logistics and unexpected disruptions that come with caregiving.
See the impact of caregiving benefits on your workforce
Employees are signaling they need more support from their employers. Lean in today, and you will see stronger retention, healthier teams, and real cost savings.
Cariloop delivers measurable impact. Let’s explore how our caregiving support benefit can help your workforce thrive and your business grow.