Roughly 35% of employed Canadians are currently informal caregivers — defined as “an individual who provides care and/or support to a family member, friend or neighbour who has a physical or mental disability, is chronically ill or is frail” (Williams, Eby, Crooks, Stajduhar, Giesbrecht, Vuksan, Cohen, Brazil, & Allan, 2011, p. 3). These worker-carers are mostly women and often experience negative impacts on their physical, mental, emotional, social, and economic well-being. The impact on employers is also staggering (Fast, Lero, DeMarco, Ferreira, & Eales, 2014). With the number of seniors requiring such care expected to double by 2031, this is a growing issue for Canadians (Williams, et al, 2011). With the assistance of a Technical Committee of experts, chaired by Dr. Williams from McMaster University, the Canadian Standards Association and McMaster University have developed a Standard for Caregiver Inclusive and Accommodating Workplaces. This has been realized through funding provided by the CIHR/SSHRC Partnership Development Grant addressing Healthy, Productive Workplaces. This research seeks to conduct an Enhanced Public Review of the Caregiver Inclusive and Accommodating Standard through the completion of interviews (n=17) with key stakeholders across Canada.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted from May to July 2017. After reading a draft of the Standard, interviewees were asked about: the viability of implementation of the Standard; what they liked about it, and what they would change, as well as; how it met with the mandate of their own organization. Interviewees represented the senior leadership of a wide variety of organizations including: human resources; caregiver support; unions; white-collar industry; healthcare, and; municipal governments. Following transcription and coding of the interviews using thematic analysis, five major themes emerged.
First, the Standard is a necessary tool in today’s world. Second, though it is an important tool, it is more likely to be used as an educational tool than to be actually implemented by most organizations. Third, organizations are not likely to implement the Standard for a variety of reasons. For example, small to medium sized organizations do not have the resources or capacity to implement and, given that large organizations already have policies in place, they will view the voluntary Standard as superfluous. Fourth, there is a significant divide in perceptions of sex and gender as relevant to the issue of caregiving and the necessity of supports such as the Standard. Finally, organizations may be motivated to implement the Standard and/or use it as an educational tool in exchange for tax breaks or insurance incentives, awards and recognition, or for grants to assist in developing and implementing policies related to the Standard.
We conclude that although there are many barriers to implementation of the Standard, it is a useful and timely tool for organizations to use in order to better support their employees who are engaged in carer roles. Incentivizing implementation may encourage more participation in this program and thus greater support for worker-carers. This is especially important as more than half of carers are women, and women in caregiving roles are more likely to spend much more of their time in that role, meaning that this will keep more women engaged in the labour force, prevent burnout, and support better health outcomes (Sinha, 2012). / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / People who are caring for an elderly or sick relative or friend (worker-carers) make up a significant portion of the Canadian workforce. The Canadian Standards Association has developed a voluntary standard for employers to provide accommodations that make working more accessible to employees who are balancing their job with their caring responsibilities. This research assesses the necessity of this Standard and the likelihood that it will be implemented by employer across the country.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/23702 |
| Date | 22 November 2018 |
| Creators | Patterson, Ashleigh |
| Contributors | Williams, Allison, Geography and Earth Sciences |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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