One in six employees is affected in France: how to reconcile professional life and support for loved ones when you are a caregiver ?

Comment concilier rôle d’aidant et vie professionnelle ?

In France, 1 in 6 employees is a caregiver. National Caregivers Day will be held on October 6, 2024. This is an opportunity to focus on the millions of caregivers who are in the workforce and trying to juggle work and caring for a loved one. For them, it is often a double whammy.

"I am finding it increasingly difficult to reconcile my role as a caregiver and my working hours". Many people do this big gap, at the risk of losing their health and their jobs.

61% of close assistance can take the form of help with daily living activities, moral support and/or financial support.

The profile of the employee caregiver

According to the 2023 Observatory on employee caregivers, the average age of the latter is 42 years old. Among employee caregivers in the private sector, the average age at which they start providing care is even 35 years old! On average, these employees devote between 9 and 11 hours per week to their role as caregiver.

Unsurprisingly, 82% of them say they lack time, and 51% have already given up on seeing a doctor when they needed to. In 86% of cases, the person receiving care is a family member. The latter is in a situation of loss of autonomy due to old age (46%), chronic or disabling illness (24%), or disability (20%).

Informing or not informing one's employer ?

44% of employee carers feel they could lose their job and only 25% have informed their employer of their situation. They fear being stigmatized, perceived as people who are less committed to their work, or that files will be taken away from them, fearing a lack of reliability.

However, there are several arguments that encourage people to talk to their employer about it: benefiting from ad hoc legal systems, not finding themselves isolated, especially when they can no longer do their share of the work…

What are my rights as a caring employee ?

In France, several legal systems exist to help employees reconcile their professional life and their role as caregivers. Although insufficient and underused, “these systems already constitute an important resource “, underlines Julia Peyre, a lawyer specializing in labor law and an expert on issues related to caregiving in the corporate world (Squair firm, Bordeaux).

The first concerns specific leave. The “caregiver leave” is compensated by the daily caregiver allowance (AJPA). “It allows employees to take days off to care for a dependent relative, she explains. It is now compensated by organizations such as the Family Allowance Fund at the level of the minimum wage (64.54 euros per day in 2024), with a limit of 66 days of compensation during the employee's career. The “parental presence leave” is intended for parents of seriously ill or disabled children. Finally, the “family solidarity leave” is intended to support a loved one at the end of their life."

Then, adjustments to working hours can be requested by employees. For example, an employee who is a caregiver can request a switch from night work to daytime hours. ““Individualized schedules” also exist and allow you to keep the same working hours while having the flexibility to organize your schedule, for example by arriving earlier and leaving earlier, explains Maître Peyre. Finally, the “donation of days off” between colleagues allows employees to show solidarity. Not mandatory, some companies apply it successfully, and sustainably over time, on the prior condition of ensuring adequate awareness and information within the company."

Finally, the other legal possibilities are subject to the conventional agreement, established between the parties or implemented unilaterally by the company (extension of leave, maintenance of salary during these periods…).

What about the self-employed ?

Public sector employees are also concerned by the measures mentioned above – with some specificities – as well as self-employed workers.

"The latter are entitled, like others, to compensation (daily allowance for carers) in the event of cessation or reduction of their professional activity to care for a loved one", adds the lawyer, who nevertheless acknowledges that "resuming their activity can be tricky, particularly due to the loss of contacts, sponsors and/or income, because the compensation is often largely insufficient to offset the costs they continue to assume during their absence."