Caregivers are in crisis. They told USA TODAY they want to see change.
In taking USA TODAY’s long-term care survey, readers told us their stories and what kind of solutions they’d like to see. But is that change possible?
For a while, it seemed almost impossible to have it all.
The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a new era of flexible work schedules and remote and hybrid work arrangements. More women, especially mothers with young children, realized that they could combine full-time work with family responsibilities, and fewer women quit their jobs to care for their children and families.
And by 2025, more than 455,000 women will have left the workforce. Now, a national survey has revealed what led many women to make that decision.
According to a survey by women’s advocacy group Catalyst, nearly half of women who left their jobs voluntarily said they did so because of caregiving responsibilities and high and limited childcare costs.
Forced to make an “impossible decision”
Sheila Brussel, research director at Catalyst, said women’s participation in the workforce is starting to lag as workplaces become less flexible.
As more companies scale back flexible work schedules and require employees to return to the office part-time or full-time, women are finding themselves in a tough spot. More than a third of women who left the workplace said they had volunteered to take a less flexible job, according to a Catalyst survey.
Brassell said these women are quitting their jobs not because they lack ambition, but because they don’t have options.
“Our data clearly shows that women are not choosing or taking a step back in their careers. What we’re really seeing is that this is a structural problem. Without support to navigate these caregiving responsibilities and very rigorous and limited work schedules, women are having to make impossible decisions,” she told USA TODAY.
Brassell said that leaving the workforce, even for a short period of time, is a difficult decision that can have long-term implications for a woman’s career trajectory and peak earning years, but that women are torn “between the people they rely on for their care and well-being and their ability to go to work.”
The “sandwich generation” is in crisis
Research shows that although most of the responsibility falls on women, caregiving is not just a women’s problem.
America’s population is rapidly aging, and more and more Americans are joining the “sandwich generation” of caring for children and parents at the same time.
A Harvard Business School study found that three out of four employees have some kind of caregiving responsibility. Almost a third voluntarily quit their job during their career because of it, and the proportion is even higher among senior-level employees.
More companies are offering paid family care leave, which employees can use to care for an elderly parent, a seriously ill family member, or a loved one recovering from surgery or hospitalization, according to leave management company Sparrow. Additionally, 14 states currently offer paid family leave insurance programs that cover family care.
Caregiving increased from 2.4% of all leave requests in 2020 to 6% in 2025, an increase of 150%. The median length of these leaves has nearly quadrupled.
“This suggests that employees are increasingly dealing with long-term care situations, precisely the scenario where, without adequate leave support, talented employees are exposed to chronic stress, burnout, or even leave the workforce altogether,” Sparrow said in a report on employee leave released this week.
But for many organizations, caregiving remains a blind spot. More than half of employers don’t track data on their employees’ caregiving responsibilities, a Harvard Business School study found.
What employers can do now to help caregivers
Brassell said employers should take immediate steps to support their employees, especially women, who make up half of the workforce.
“We are seeing a return to traditional 9-to-5 office work, which will once again increase the burdens women face in navigating caregiving and careers, which is likely to force them to quit their jobs,” she said. Brassell recommends offering flexible schedules so employees don’t have to choose between caregiving and work.
She said other policies that reduce caregiving pressures on employees could increase retention, such as paid emergency care days, financial subsidies and on-site child care.
She also urges regular audits to ensure fair pay and career growth for women. Nearly one in five women who voluntarily quit their jobs reported that pay was a factor in their decision to leave, according to a Catalyst survey.
