As we all grapple with the COVID-19 crisis, employees are facing new and numbered challenges. Approximately 95% of Americans have been ordered to stay home and U.S. public and private school closures skyrocketed, impacting at least 124,000 schools nationwide and affecting at least 55.1 million students.
Add to that, employees are facing various care disruptions spanning across children, elderly loved ones and even pets. All while having to manage their work, family responsibilities and caregiving challenges. Since data shows aging loved ones are more at risk, employers are trying to educate and support their employees more with corresponding solutions. Including many other wide-ranging challenges, these are certainly extraordinary times.
Finding solutions for these arising situations can be tough as employees are being forced to create a “new normal.” Now more than ever, offering a Work-Life program to support employees is a key resource to help them navigate their responsibilities and challenges during this time. While a lot is changing, this support is a constant that employees can rely on.
With our requests reaching unprecedented volumes, we’re seeing firsthand what many of the needs are during these trying times. While each member’s situation is unique, here’s just a small sample of some of the requests our members have reached out with and how we’re helping them.
Real Employee Requests
1. A member’s daycare closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the member’s an essential worker and needed to find reliable care. She called LifeCare looking to use her backup care benefit. After collecting information about the days, times and daycare location, the LifeCare specialist was able to secure backup care for all the days needed, meeting all the employees’ specifications, so she could get to work.
2. As her children’s school closed, a member called in for assistance with locating an in-home caregiver for her children. She did not have access to a backup care program but needed to arrange full-time care for at least several weeks. The LifeCare specialist started by determining the hours of care needed, budget preferences and any special needs the children might have. We were able to refer an in-home agency in the member’s area that had available caregivers who were within the member’s budget.
3. Due to the current situation, a member was unable to personally check in on her elderly parents, so she called in for assistance locating a caregiver. The family resides in one of the areas heavily affected by the COVID-19 virus so locating services was challenging. The LifeCare specialist gathered the hours of care needed per week and the level of assistance both parents required. In less than 24 hours, we were able to provide a referral to a Home Health Agency that could provide a caregiver.
4. A member called in for assistance with locating COVID-19 social distancing information for his staff. We were able to provide a variety of resources for them, including step-by-step instructions on how to access the most up to date COVID-19 information. The LifeCare specialist also highlighted the different resources and support we’re able to offer each individual staff member, should they need.
5. After a member was laid off as a result of a non-essential business temporarily closing, she called in for assistance with locating financial resources. She had questions regarding unemployment and what assistance was available to help her get through this difficult time. We were able to provide a variety of resources to her, including information on financial hardship organizations and information on the unemployment office in the member’s state.
6. A member called for assistance locating adult care resources. Both elderly parents recently underwent surgery and the family needed to locate a rehabilitation facility for one parent and a home health aide for the other parent. The specialist began by gathering information on the needs of both parents to determine budget and care preferences. We then provided a variety of referrals for both in-home and rehab facility care. The referrals detailed contact information, office hours, care offered, services provided, fees and next steps for arranging care.
7. While he understood there might not be any in-person options during this time, a member called in for assistance locating prenatal resources for his wife, including Lamaze and hypno-birthing classes. We were able to locate several online options for them, along with detailed contact information, classes offered, fees, program days, hours and next steps for enrolling in a class.
As you can tell from just these handful of stories, our workforce is being challenged in ways we’ve never seen. While we can’t completely do away with our members’ struggles surrounding coronavirus, we’re glad we can help wherever we can.
To learn more about programs that support your employees we’re here to help. Contact us here or call us at (866) 675-3751.