According to a recent study from Harvard Business School, businesses are pretty much oblivious to the number of employees who are caring for family at home.

It may seem, on the surface, that this is something businesses can just ignore, but in reality, as unemployment is dropping, the number of family caregivers is rising. That’s only going to grow more as the cost of health care rises and our population ages. Almost 44 million people are acting as unpaid caregivers in the United States alone.

More than 80% of the employees surveyed said their caregiving duties impacted their work, yet less than 25% of employers felt that caregiving impacted the work of the very same employees.

You have to wonder if employers are really this oblivious, or they’re just not close enough to their workforce to see the problem. But it is a problem, and not just among lower-level staff.

According to the report, the percentage of staff who left their jobs to care for a family member were:

• Senior leadership: 61%
• Manager of managers: 53%
• Manager of employees: 44%
• Employee: 23%

Also interesting about this report is that more men (38%) than women (27%) said they quit to care for someone.

Think for a moment about what it costs to hire someone to replace these people. It can take months to hire a senior executive, and some search firms charge between 20 and 30% of the first-year salary of a candidate.

If 30% or more of your workforce could be struggling with working while caring for a family member, shouldn’t you be thinking of ways to help them do both?

What kind of support are you offering to carers in your workforce? Paid family leave is a great start, but what about long-term carers? What do you offer through your employee assistance program?

Most employee wellness programs focus on fitness and health. A recent post in HR Technologist offers a look at the corporate wellness technology employers are bringing to the table. Many of these programs are focused on keeping the employee healthy to reduce absence due to illness. Employees see through this thinly veiled attempt at reducing costs.

The load of being a caregiver for a family member can result in higher stress, poorer physical health, exhaustion and a higher likelihood to engage in maladaptive behavior like substance abuse, eating disorders and even self-harm. Depression, exhaustion, and anxiety are common, and the overall health of the caregiving populationtends to be poorer than the population at large.

Paid family leave is a great start, but what about long-term carers? Adaptive coping skills can be taught, and offering appropriate support for carers as well as the entire team can benefit everyone. With appropriate emotional support, we create a meaningful difference in the way the entire organization works together.