Not only will their family pressures distract their ability to do their best at work, their productivity will suffer and be reflected on your bottom line.

Cold hard reality? Yes. But as Baby Boomers join the ranks of caregivers for aging parents who are living longer, this has become a vital business issue. These employees have joined the ranks of family caregivers--those who care for aging parents or a sick spouse or a family friend.

One in three working Americans cares for a loved one who is sick, frail or disabled. By the end of the decade it will be one in two. If family caregivers were paid working wages for their efforts that they provide free of charge, their compensation would approximate the entire Medicare budget.

Although you know the business impact of health care costs and sick employees, caregiving may fall below your radar screen. Brace yourself. Family caregiving could be the next major health-related issue that threatens your bottom line.

Family caregiving already costs American businesses between $17 billion and $33 billion in reduced productivity, early retirement or the shift to part-time work. The numbers will continue to grow given our aging demographics, and the ability of the health care system to keep people with chronic illnesses alive longer. In addition, family caregivers face increased risk of acute illness and exacerbation of chronic health conditions, increasing your health care costs in yet another way.

This is an issue veiled in silence. Few businesses know how many of their employees care for others or how family caregiving impacts their own business. Further, because this is not a defined problem, there are few solutions.

Our Medical Bridges Solution
Medical Bridges is pleased to offer you a solution that helps your employees care for themselves as they care for loved ones. We call it the Caregiver Club. As your employees join this club, they have access to resources that will help them help their loved ones--and themselves--more effectively and efficiently. This practical information and collection of what-to-say and what-to-do tips will reduce employee stress and help them shift their focus back to productive work in less time.

You can customize club membership to include products and services that best address your employees' needs and support your current health and wellness efforts. Your employees have access to

• The Monthly Caregiver Club newsletter
• Participation in monthly Caring for the Caregiver teleseminars that help employees care for themselves, reduce stress and avoid illness
• Participation in monthly Patient Advocate teleseminars that help employees become collaborative members of their loved one’s health care team
• Participation in monthly group or individual “coach on call” telephone sessions
• A copy of The Personal Health Journal
• Access to a library of caregiving articles, videos and a daily blog
• Keynote addresses to amplify these messages

Your employees will get

• Advice about what to say and what to do to assure that their parents or loved ones are getting the best health care possible.
• Ideas that will help lower the cost of caring for aging parents
• Practical tips that will lower stress
• Most importantly, renewed hope that they will make it through the tough times.

Your employees benefit by

• Decreasing their own out-of-pocket expenses
• Saving time by avoiding common mistakes in caregiving
• Decreasing stress and avoiding illness

Your business benefits by

• Retaining a productive work force
• Avoiding the cost of employee turnover
• Maintaining employee productivity
• Reducing employee stress and decreasing absenteeism and presenteeism
• Putting you on the cutting edge by offering an innovative solution to a yet-unrecognized problem

Measures of success
The success of any health-related intervention, including membership in the Caregiver Club, can be hard to measure. The goals of this program, including your ability to retain a productive, healthy workforce, cannot be measured in black and white. Some metrics that can help assess the success include

• Employees' level of energy and stress
• Employee turnover
• Productivity
• Sick days
• Overall health care costs
• Knowing the employer cares