Unpaid carers currently represent 11% of all Australians (ABS, 2018) and 1 in 8 employees (Carers Australia).  

Are you aware of what it means to be a carer, who the carer population in your workforce is and how they fall within your carer policy?   

A carer is a broad term which includes parents, extended family, kin, foster parents and even friends who are caring, looking after or providing support to another.  In this session we focus on unpaid carers within the workforce who have a different set of needs and experiences to working parents.  

 This significant, and often unrecognised group of carers balance work with the support of others across a range of needs including age, illness, disability, neurodiversity, grief, loss, and victims of domestic and family violence.   

It is important that these carers are recognised as a distinct group within an organisation’s policies and support framework.  Providing contemporary, equitable and supportive arrangements for carers in the workplace is key to attracting, retaining, engaging, and supporting employees to do their best work.   

In this session we will be joined by Catherine McNair, Head of Diversity Inclusion and Wellbeing at QBE Insurance, Louise Ferris, Board Member, Carers Queensland and Director Human Resources, McCullogh Robertson and Fiona Hitchiner, Client Advisory Director, Parents at Work, who will apply their expert knowledge in discussing the following topics:

• How to better understand and support the carer population in your workforce 
• What best practice looks like and how companies are pioneering innovative care policy and solutions  
• Some of the complexities encountered by organisations looking to better support carers 
• The impact of caring on the wellbeing of the carers 
• The rising demand for care and support services as the ageing population increases 
• The business case for a carer support framework and how this aligns with the National Working Families Standards 

Parents At Work supports people to thrive at work and home. We bridge the work and home divide by embedding flexibility, wellbeing, parental transition and wider caring services to enable workplaces and their people to thrive. For more information about our services or the event, please email info@parentsatwork.com.au.   

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