Abstract
Demographic changes give rise to an increasing number of middle-aged employees providing informal eldercare under the ‘Aging in Place’ policy in most OECD countries. Among part of the sandwiched generation, particularly for employed parents and informal caregivers, engaging in paid work and eldercare has financial, occupational, health and family consequences. Studies indicate that when informal caregivers lack the organizational/managerial support or resources to combine their paid work with eldercare responsibilities, it could result in intentions to resign, poor job performance, absenteeism and low well-being. The purpose of this paper is to examine the way managers’ support cultivates caregivers’ engagement at work among Israeli public servants. Very little is known about the role of managers’ support for employees who provide informal care. Using the Job Demand-Control-Support model (JDCS) and conducting a qualitative inquiry - analysis of 14 interviews with managers revealed multilayered subjective experiences of the complex negotiations between work and eldercare responsibilities as well the coping strategies. The findings suggest that managers’ empathy, working-time autonomy, managers’ flexible view, and social ties with colleagues are especially beneficial for employees’ functioning at work when eldercare demands and strain are high and for a long time. The results, therefore, indicate the relevance of organizational and managerial support in work-family research and practice. The results underscore a critical challenge for policymakers and HRM practitioners to support employees with heavy care responsibilities, enable them to sustain their career, accomplish, more optimally, both work tasks and eldercare in the family, thereby facilitating their wellbeing.
Presenters
Hedva Vinarski PeretzChair, Political Science, M.A. Program - Public Administration and Public Policy and Health System Management, The Academic Yezreel Valley College, HaMerkaz, Israel
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Social and Cultural Perspectives on Aging
KEYWORDS
Eldercare, Work-life balance, Long term care policy, Aging policy
