Kenneth Matos and Ellen Galinsky, Families and Work Institute, report, “Overall, 41% of employers provide employees with information about elder care services or Elder Care Resource and Referral, and 42% offer Dependent Care Assistance Plans (DCAPs) for elder care.” This report, National Study of Employers (NSE), from the Families and Work Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), is perhaps the most comprehensive and far-reaching study of the practices, policies, programs and benefits provided by U.S. employers to address the changing needs of today’s workforce and workplace.

The NSE is based on the Institute’s landmark 1998 Business Work-Life Study (BWLS) and has been conducted three additional times since the BWLS survey was completed (2005, 2008 and 2012). The 2012 NSE sample includes 1,126 employers with 50 or more employees—75% are for-profit employers and 25% are nonprofit organizations; 18% operate at only one location, while 82% percent have operations at more than one location. Families and Work Institute (FWI) designed the questionnaire, and Harris Interactive, Inc. conducted the interviews on behalf of FWI.  The results of the survey are being released with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) as an integral part of the FWI-SHRM When Work Works initiative.

Findings reveal that both employers and employees can benefit from effective and flexible workplaces. Employees benefit from having higher quality jobs and more supportive workplaces that are less likely to negatively affect their personal and family lives, while employers benefit from having more engaged employees, higher retention and potentially lower health care costs.