COMBINING WORK AND ELDERCARE: A NEGLECTED WORK-LIFE BALANCE ISSUE

Discussions about "work-life balance " and "family-friendly workplaces " mainly focus on working parents with young children. Employees who care for and support older relatives receive much less atlention. But this issue will grow in importance as the population ages and labour shortages encourage middle-aged people to be fully involved in the workforce. As life expectancy increases many working people have parents in their eighties and nineties, often in need of care and support. How do they balance work and eldercare? A research project on working carers involved the employees of Wellington and Christchurch City Councils and found that about one in ten had eldercare responsibilities. Questionnaires and focus groups provided information on the type and extent of eldercare and how it is managed alongside work commitments. Such responsibilities can add to workers · stress and have an impact on productivity. Suggestions for employers arose from the study, including the need to develop policies on eldercare responsibilities among their staff as an emerging priority. Workforce and Population Change Several important trends underlie the emerging issue of work and eldercare. New Zealand's population is ageing. In the coming half-century, its median age will rise from 36 to 46 and the percentage aged 65 plus will grow from 12 to 25 (Khawaja, 2000). The number of people aged 85 and over is expected to increase by 600 percent, to 290,000. This age group is likely to require support and assistance, both formal and informal. Currently, only 15 percent of New Zealanders aged 85 and over live in the community independent of all service provision; 36 percent of people aged 75 and over have a moderate disability and 18 percent a severe disability (Ministry of Health 2002). • Along with the population as a whole, the work force is ageing, with a current median age of 40 (Davey and Cornwall 2003). This trend, along with declining birth rates, means that labour force growth will slow and by mid-century, based on present assumptions about participation, is expected to be negative (Stephenson and Scobie 2002). Thus New Zealand is predicted to face increasing labour and skil