Do you have to talk to your employer about informal care?

Dilemma

A quarter of employees in the Netherlands take care of a dear friend, neighbor, parent, child, partner or other family member. Often without the employer knowing that. When is it good to break that radio silence?

Keep work and private life

« If you still manage it yourself and you find your informal care situation too personal, then you might not have to share anything about it, » says informal care broker Kalinka Kester of Vivalis.

According to figures from the Work and Informal Care Foundation, discusses Forty percent of the working caregivers their care situation not with their supervisor. What reasons they have for this, mapped out scientific researcher Eline Vos of the RIVM, in collaboration with project leader and professor of work, health promotion and policy Karin Proper at the same organization. « Informal carers are sometimes afraid that they will be seen as less deployable or difficult employee. They do not want to burden the employer with this and see it as private, « says Proper.

Sometimes an organizational culture also makes it difficult to raise informal care, says adviser Kim Dirkse of MantelzorgNL: « This can make the threshold for employees high to talk to their employer. » Most caregivers can combine their care tasks well with their work, says Dirkse.

PASSING YOURSELF

If you have a lot of stress because of the mantle care, if you have too little time to relax, if you can regularly concentrate on your work regularly, if you start to develop physical complaints: those are all drawing that you have to take action, Kester says.

MantelzorgNL even advises to always discuss informal care with your employer. Dirkse: “You should actually do that from the very beginning, and not only when the water is on your lips. That gives you the opportunity to talk about it with colleagues and to view what you need. ” Informal care often starts small, but can ask more and more attention from you: “People often find it very obvious to take care of a neighbor. Often their care starts with small tasks, such as helping with finances or shopping. And before you know it you help someone with all kinds of care and control tasks in daily life. And then the load becomes increasingly heavier, especially in combination with work. « 

Proper: “Discussing your informal care situation with your supervisor can ensure more understanding. This can then lead to the manager, together with you, looking for opportunities to combine work and informal care. Think of flexible working hours, leave arrangements or other adjustments to better combine work and informal care. ”

Dirkse: “With informal care, you often see that the work and private situation are increasingly mixing up. You still have to solve that together. And if possible, make tailor -made agreements together.  » All kinds of options are conceivable: “Maybe you want to start a little later, so that you can help your neighbor start the day. Or maybe you want to be able to make a phone call occasionally during the day and then work a little longer in the evening. ”

Before you start a conversation, think about your own wishes, Kester advises: “How could you bring more balance? And how can your employer help you with that? ” But how do you come up with such a plan, if you yourself no longer see the forest for the trees? Dirkse: “People can always call our Informal.  »

Kester: “You can also contact a municipal support point for caregivers. Or you call in the help of an informal care broker.  » The latter informs and coaches caregivers in bringing more balance in their lives. Moreover, such a broker can offer concrete help, for example by calling on behalf of an informal caregiver with a health insurer or municipality. « You can ask your employer if he wants to reimburse an informal care broker. And possibly that is also possible from your own additional health insurance. « 

Dirkse also advises to pay attention to yourself: “It is good to be aware of how much time will be in informal care, so that you can also see if there is enough time left to take some rest yourself. It is important to keep your own capacity up to date, so that you can also keep informing informal care in the long term. ”

So

Do not hesitate to raise informal care with your employer. It is nice if you don't have to hide large parts of your private life from your colleagues. See if your employer – at times when needed – can offer some extra flexibility, so that you can make phone calls, for example, or bring someone somewhere.

Also take good care of yourself. Because if you collapse in the long term, then you are a lot further away from home. Just like your employer by the way.

To share





Mail the editors