qWhat company can safely neglect a quarter of its employees? A priori none. Therefore, the issue of “helping employees” is a priority. Not only on October 6 for its national holiday that remembers the introduction in October 2020 of the first paid leave for caregivers, but because in 2030 they will represent 25% of the active population, according to the 2024 study of the Joint Organization of Income Institutions and Forecast. (Ocirp) published on Thursday, October 3. One in four employees will have to juggle medical appointments and administrative problems for a loved one with their work.
For companies, it is a time bomb. They already have a vague idea of the cost of absenteeism, but there are also costs linked to the drop in productivity of helping employees who are absent, who lose efficiency due to fatigue and mental workload, but are not declared. .
Economist Nathalie Chusseau, associate researcher of the Demographic Transitions, Economic Transitions (TDTE) chair, professor at the University of Lille, believes that “all the hidden costs for companies [du secteur privé] – direct costs: mainly absenteeism, and indirect costs: presenteeism – amount to 24 billion euros per year, low range, and 31 billion euros per year, high range. On the scale of a single company of one hundred employees, evaluate the hidden costs “more than 10% of the payroll.”
An obstacle to professional development
However, the number of employees who simultaneously care for their parents or children, who are losing their independence and their professional lives, continues to increase: the average age of entry into the care sector decreases from year to year. From 39 years in 2021, it went to 33 years in 2024. Therefore, the cost for companies will skyrocket, unless they change their approach, focusing first on the issue of identifying employees who help and then on the nature of the aid.
63% of caregivers surveyed by Ocirp say they have not informed their employer about their situation. And for good reason: 65% of HR managers recognize that it is an obstacle to professional development. “ When the employee fears discrimination in employment or being excluded from salary increases or professional development, he or she does not report it. The employer then has no other means of identifying caregivers than observation.”explains Marie-Anne Montchamp, CEO of Ocirp.
La Poste, which is the largest employer of caregivers in France, with 5,200 caregiver employees in 2023, has partly solved the problem through extensive communication work and the creation of a caregiver desk: “The fear of being stigmatized is reduced, because it does not go through the manager”explains Aline Guerard, delegate of CFDT La Poste and signatory with all union organizations of the latest agreement that introduces, among other things, new special authorizations of absence.
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