Offering a helping hand to workers can help bosses too, writes Diana Clement
KEY POINTS:
Rob Haultain had no idea she might need time off work to care for her partner until a call came out of the blue. Luci had collapsed at work and was soon diagnosed as having a brain tumour.
Almost without warning, Haultain, who worked full time as an industrial adviser for the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, had to take on the role of carer for Luci.
Many thousands of people find themselves in a similar situation each year, having to take on the care of a partner or elderly relative, says Laurie Hilsgen, director of Carers Net New Zealand.
For some, it can mean having to give up work and live on a benefit.
Luckier people such as Haultain have an understanding employer who goes out of their way to accommodate changed working routines.
In the case of Haultain, that involved being provided with a networked computer at her home so she could continue to work and look after Luci. Many of her colleagues were also very supportive, taking on elements of her work.
"It would have been a major disaster if my employer hadn't been so generous. I would have had to give up work. We probably would have lost our house," says Haultain.
An employee who faces a sudden crisis can be made to feel uncomfortable about taking time off work to care for someone who is sick or elderly.
Hilsgen says fellow employees can become resentful.
Even in Haultain's case some of her colleagues couldn't understand why her employer was being so generous. Others were innately empathetic with her situation.
Ironically, Haultain's job involves negotiating with employers on behalf of employees in the same situation as she found herself. "Some employers, public and private, take a mean and niggardly view."
She has come across employees in a similar situation who have had to work long days to keep their pay coming in.
In another case she negotiated, an employer refused sick leave to a worker whose mother had been discharged from hospital.
"She was not viewed as a `dependent relative'," says Haultain.
Equal Employment Opportunities Trust chief executive Philippa Read says she has come across "absurd" situations such as one multinational company that couldn't allow a carer to work flexibly because its system of counting employees couldn't recognise someone who didn't work normal hours.
In the tight job market, says Telecom's general manager employment solutions, Jo Copeland, employers need to retain workers and providing flexible working conditions boosts retention rates.
"Telecom has a comprehensive flexible working policy that was updated last year," says Copeland. "Our approach is that everyone is entitled to flexible working."
In the case of carers that may mean working from home.
The company has set guidelines and produced a toolkit that assists managers in dealing with carers.
Should a worker need to take time off to care for someone, they can use 10 days' sick leave without question. From then, managers have the discretion to provide 20 more days. If more days are needed, the decision needs to be escalated, says Copeland.
Because of Telecom's size, it is also able to offer part-time work or unpaid leave to enable a worker to be a carer.
Copeland cites the case of one employee whose son was in a car accident overseas. The employee left immediately to be at his bedside and took paid and then unpaid leave.
"We talked to her and said her job would be open for a year until she was ready to come back," she says.
"Telecom has an intelligent workforce. It's not `my way or the highway'."
"It is so important these days to hold on to our people and treat them right.
"I find it surprising that so many employers out there don't do it [follow best practice]."
The trust says one in seven people in paid work looks after someone who is ill or has a disability, with that number set to grow.
Two in five of those are men, which belies the stereotype of women fulfilling the carer's role.
Hilsgen says virtually all of us, at some time during our lives, will either be carers or need to be cared for.
Read says with 22 per cent of businesses citing labour shortages there are opportunities for employers to retain the skills of people. Yet many have never given the issue a thought.
Taking this into account, the Government initiated last month the New Zealand Carers' Strategy and Five-year Action Plan. Details are available on the Ministry of Social Development's website at: www.msd.govt.nz/work-areas/cross-sectoral-work/carers-strategy .
There are benefits for employers as well. Haultain feels a depth of commitment to her employer and colleagues for the support they gave to her during what was a very difficult time personally.
"It made me feel very loyal to my employer and my colleagues."
Another benefit to the organisation was that it revealed new skill sets in Haultain's colleagues as they took on some of her work.
"I have also become a better team member. When the love of your life is threatened it causes you to reflect on what is important.
"I was shown a lot of generosity [by colleagues] and it makes me careful to be as generous and kind as possible."
Some employees, says Hilsgen, choose to become self-employed and work hours to suit themselves. This is something she did herself.
Changes to the Employment Relations Act come into force on July 1 and will give employees who care for children or dependent or disabled adults the right to request more flexible work arrangements.
ON THE WEB
www.carers.net.nz, www.eeotrust.org.nz
