Budgeting for Family Caregiving: Tangible Metrics that Drive Impact

BY Angelica Frey | May 23, 2023

Mike Quigg spends every day thinking about caregiving, and not just because he is the VP and head of strategy of the caregiving platform ianacare—where ‘iana’ stands for I am not alone. In fact, he told the audience of a From Day One webinar, he has been the primary caretaker of his mother throughout her 15-year journey with cancer. In this role, Quigg alternates between periods of well-being and more challenging times. “She is on medicare; it was my responsibility to sit through and understand the coverage and allowances, and understand what to do when benefits maxed out. Short and long-term planning,” he told Cara Obradovitz Flavin, national health and productivity consultant of the insurance service provider Alliant.

Worker access to caregiving benefits directly impacts an organization. The burden of caregiving leads to increased turnover, absenteeism, decreased productivity, and people leaving the workforce, Obradovitz Flavin explains. “It’s difficult to quantify the need, but we know it’s there,” she acknowledged. “Making the business case for adding benefits is a little different: we have quantifiable success metrics for diabetes, nothing as straightforward with caregiving.” Statistics can offer some perspective: Starting in 2030, BCG reports, the United States will lose $290 billion in GDP per year due to the care crisis. By 2034, adults 65+ will outnumber children under the age of 18.

Understanding Consumer Preferences in Terms of UX

Benefit platforms that focus on a 100% personalized, 1:1 approach, as well as those that are 100% digital, both fall short in some areas. As for how to weigh the options, Quigg suggested “moving away from what we feel is best and moving to what consumer demands and data is needed. Human beings behave in ways that are tied to immediate gratification, and anything that causes friction reduces the likelihood a consumer will continue engaging with a solution.” Culturally and societally, we’ve come to expect a certain level of ease, and many innovations feed in the ability to self-serve. “People prefer chatbots and FAQs, convenience, and their own timelines,” he continued. “It might feel better to have human support, but solely focusing on that might ignore how consumers behave.” 

(Is this convenience-focused behavior good for society? That’s a question for another webinar.)

A Multi-layered Approach

Quigg believes in a multilayered approach, which constitutes the user experience of ianacare: it’s the ideal third way between a one-size-fits-all approach and the frustrating multi-point solution that leads to decreased usage.

Mike Quigg, the VP, head of strategy & growth for ianacare (company photo)

“The way we look at this is aligned with considering consumer behavior and demand. What that has led us to put together is five unique layers, a combination of technology-focused intervention paired with on-demand, 24/7 dedicated support,” he says.  “Both are important to appeal to the entirety of the population, no matter whether they prefer immediate access and self-solving or they run into more complex scenarios where an expert would alleviate the burden.” Just relying on one approach is insufficient and would drive away some participants and lower a program’s impact.

The first layer is the patient’s social circle: when a loved one is diagnosed with a new condition, one of the things you hear is “friends and family.” It seems quite simple, but coordinating, communicating, and contextualizing what kind of help is needed is a burdensome task for caregivers. Often, they go without coordinating and communicating. This leads to a negative impact on financial, physical, mental well-being. “What we’ve done from a tech perspective is bring people’s support circles into the platform in order to communicate needs to the people who want to contribute,” said Quigg. “It’s a powerful tool: more than 90% of users tap into the personal network, and 90% of tasks are fulfilled by that group.” 

The second layer is the integration of local resources: ianacare compiled the ability to pull in, by zip code, tens of thousands of local resources that can help with food, lodging, financial and legal issues, finding care, and locating durable medical equipment. As of Q1, 2023, it points to 1.17M different resources for users.

The third and fourth layers have to do with expertise, as literacy in health and caregiving across the US is dangerously low. “The average person is going to have a hard enough time following written instructions on a prescription bottle, not to mention benefits and the complexity of the healthcare landscape,” said Quigg. “We created a robust set of expert content to make sure people have the right info they need.” 

Finally, the fifth layer is a caregiver navigator.

The Employer Perspective

An employer ought to understand how caring for both children and parents can be a significant burden. “Even employees who don’t have children can be burdened,” warned Obradovitz Flavin. Another challenge is finding maintenance and backup care: “I recommend that employers consider all the situations we talked about, so they develop inclusive policies, with an eye for DEI. it goes beyond child care and elder care.”

The financial impact can be difficult to measure. “Presenteeism, absenteeism, decreased productivity, attrition, and retention all paint a good picture. Any measure that reduces distraction and the competing interests of an employee’s focus is going to lead to a more fully engaged and productive employee,” she continued.

A good way to garner that data? Listen to workers. What are you and the HR team hearing? Why aren’t people coming back from leave?

A well-oiled caregiving machine has both financial and time-related benefits. Quigg cites a study conducted by ianacare, Healthcore, and Jmir Publications to point out that caregivers save 200 hours annually, along with about $10,000 in personal savings, by tapping into local resources. Those savings of time and money reduce stress. “What you can see is that there was a statistically significant decrease in the amount of stress, anxiety, and burden that people felt,” said Quigg. “But I think outcomes are never going to be realized unless you can get people to actually use them.”

Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, ianacare, for sponsoring this webinar.

Angelica Frey is a writer and a translator based in Boston and Milan.


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Because employee well-being has a direct impact on performance – of individuals, of employee populations, and of organizations themselves. “There is a relationship between well-being and performance,” Gilder said, but take heart. “Well-being can be measured, and well-being can be improved over time.”BetterUp data, based on about 2 million coaching sessions with people around the world, suggests that, when it comes to well-being, about 5% feel strong, 35% feel steady, and 55% feel strained or unsteady. The last 5% feel stuck. Unlike the people at the very bottom of the scale, most people who languish in the strained or unsteady category won’t likely show up in mental health claims, Gilder explains. 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Lisa Jaffe | June 02, 2023

How Family-Forming Benefits Can Save Your Company Money

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Angelica Frey | June 01, 2023

Mapping the Human Genome of Potential

“The resume is one of the worst business tools on the planet,” said Scott Dettman, CEO of entry level career matchmaking firm Avenica. “Employers are missing anywhere from about 75% to 83% of the available talent by relying on these antiquated tools.”Dettman’s attacks on the oft-maligned resume only grew more fierce as his talk at From Day One’s live event in Salt Lake City progressed.“This happens because recruiting is heavily based on skills and keywords listed in resumes. So if you don't have those right, you are going to be missed,” he added.Dettman’s passion for this topic is informed by his own experience entering the job market following his graduation from college in 2009, at a time when jobs were scarce as unemployment levels approached ten percent. 400 job applications later, he finally received an invitation to interview for an opening. 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This is the reason why we're focused on early career—because there's no better time to avoid resumes and besides, these people don't have experience anyway,” Dettman explained. Dettman said the data back up his iconoclastic approach, pointing to a particular client company, where 67% of promotions during one mid-year cycle went to candidates found by Avenica. “It just goes to show you that when you free your mind of the constraints that we've created on talent and the way that we look at things and the bias that we use to evaluate candidates, you realize that you can unleash all that human potential, and really make a difference.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Avenica, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight.Judd Bagley is a Utah-based marketing communications professional and freelance journalist.

Judd Bagley | May 31, 2023