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The Hidden Cost of Employee Caregiving
Watch Time: 2 Mins Reading Time: 3 Mins Presented by Hollowtree Updated April 27, 2026
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Insurance Specialists
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There are 53 million unpaid caregivers in the United States right now. Statistically, that means somewhere between 20 and 25 percent of your workforce is one of them.
They're not raising their hand. They're showing up to work, taking calls, meeting deadlines -- and also managing a parent's medication schedule, coordinating home health aides, attending specialist appointments, and handling the administrative burden of a family member's long-term care situation.
Here's what that costs an employer.
Caregiving employees miss an average of 6.6 workdays per year compared to non-caregiving peers. Their productivity during the hours they are at work is measurably lower -- research estimates the annual productivity cost at approximately $36,500 per affected employee. For a company with 500 employees, if 20 percent are caregivers, that's a $3.65 million annual drag that doesn't show up anywhere in your expense reports.
The career impact matters too. Employees managing intense caregiving situations are significantly more likely to voluntarily reduce hours, decline promotions, or leave their employer entirely within 12 to 18 months of the caregiving event escalating.
Group long-term care benefits address this at the root. An employee whose aging parent has LTC coverage has a plan when the crisis arrives. That plan includes professional care options -- home health aides, memory care facilities, assisted living -- that reduce the employee's informal caregiving burden and allow them to stay fully present at work.
The benefit cost is a fraction of the replacement cost for one senior employee.
Hollowtree helps employers model this math and implement group LTC benefits that address it.
Request an impact assessment. We'll run the numbers for your workforce specifically.
About the Presenter
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Hollowtree
Insurance Specialists