With the growth of the aging population reaching record highs, are companies today addressing elder care in their expat policies?

Most companies address elder care on a case-by-case basis

Carrie Shearer, HR Consultant and seasoned expat, met her husband on an overseas assignment. Over the years they have worked together in Thailand, South Africa, Japan, Egypt, Malaysia, Oman, and England. Both had parents living in different countries back home while they were working overseas but neither was offered any type of elder care provision.

"If our parents had fallen seriously ill or passed away, we would have been provided with a plane ticket home, nothing more," says Shearer.

When deciding whether or not to accept a relocation offer, some employees have to consider the needs of elderly parents as well as those of their spouses and children.

With the rapid growth of the elderly population and increasing life spans, families are likely to find themselves caring for their elderly parents for longer than previously.

Elder care is assistance given to people aged 65 or over with functional impairments, delivered through informal and/or formal arrangements by family, friends and service providers.

As predicted by The 2002 UN Population Divisions Report, "By 2050, the number of older persons (60 years or older) in the world will exceed the number of young for the first time in history. Globally, the population of older persons is growing by two percent each year, considerably faster than the population as a whole."

The report explains that the fastest growing age group in the world is the 'oldest old', those aged 80 years or above. Population ageing has major consequences on and influences all facets of human life. In the social sphere, it affects health and health care, family composition, living arrangements, housing and migration.

With the business costs of expatriation being so high, preparing and supporting the employee and their dependents is critical. How are companies today responding to and addressing elder care in their expat policies?

Says Martine Tardivel, Director of Organization Resources Counsellors Worldwide, France, "we don’t have access to information on the elderly, and the issue of elder care is very new."

Elder care is not covered in ORC Worldwide's 2002 Survey of International Assignment Policies and Practices. Tardivel has observed that companies currently address elder care on a case-by-case basis, when the issue is important to the family concerned.

Paul Bailey, Marketing Manager at Employment Conditions Abroad International, would agree. He too has only seen these benefits addressed on a situational basis and not yet part of any established or formalized HR policy.

Although ECA International’s 2001 Managing Mobility Survey covers spousal and dependent issues, elder care has not been explicitly identified. In this survey, only 5.1 percent of respondents identified the ‘parents of expatriate and/or partner’ as ‘dependents.’

Only 2.6 percent of respondents offered financial assistance with care in the home country to the employee and/or spouse’s parents, while 1.3 percent offered financial assistance with education in the home country and 2.7 percent offered flights to/from the host country to the employee and/or spouse’s parents.

Jan Nelson, Director of Global Services for Mobility Services International, has never heard of any companies who have developed an elder care policy. "This benefit has to be negotiated on a case by case basis depending on the seniority of the person or I would expect that it is a deal breaker for families considering an overseas relocation," he says.

Elder care may not be defined explicitly in a policy, but it can be implied through others.

According to Lesley Lorraine, European Principal, Mercer HR Consulting, "Typically, we see policies that encourage the expat to keep their house in their home country so they don’t have to pull out of the housing market."

Lorraine continues, "Because most companies also provide accommodation in the host country, there is usually a housing fee deducted. In a situation where a spouse needs to go back and forth to the home country to care for elderly parents or if the parents live in the employee's home – some companies won't charge this housing norm. The employer considers the extenuating needs of their employee."

Lorraine adds that that annual home leave allowances may be increased if the family has responsibility of caring for an elderly parent in their home country.

So why aren't companies addressing elder care in their expat policies?

Employees are not necessarily disclosing to their companies that they are dealing with elder care issues and generally tend to think it isn't a workplace issue.

According to Joy Loverde, author of The Complete Eldercare Planner, "Employees are not likely to bring the issue of elder care up for fear of being perceived as not promotable and unavailable."

Cost is another reason for not addressing elder care. Many companies are trying to draw the line and are cutting and controlling their expatriate fees.

As Jan Nelson reports, "We are also experiencing a slowdown on expatriate assignments and many organizations are choosing to send staff on short-term or commuter assignments and are sending younger single employees to avoid dealing with these types of issues."

The dual career issue still tends to be the major concern for companies, pushing the issue of elder care further down the 'list'. It has been well documented that the spouse is the key person to facilitate successful relocation integration and that the major cause of assignment failure is family adjustment. For these reasons, companies continue to focus their resources in this area.

Elder care will eventually become as acceptable as childcare issues are today and "what companies offer will be as different as the companies themselves" predicts Loverde.

With the rising population of the elderly and families' commitments to providing elder care, the multiple roles that employees have to balance will continue to rise. Human resources professionals and senior management are well aware that the issue of elder care is just around the corner.

August 2003

Caroline Mitchell is a human resource consultant in Paris.