Mother’s Day often highlights moms balancing work and home—but caregiving can be more complex and far-reaching.
Too often, working parents feel pressure to power through quietly, worried that asking for flexibility could come at a professional cost—and this struggle can disproportionately affect women. A full 74% of women with children are working. Benefits leaders have an opportunity to change that by pairing strong caregiving benefits with a workplace culture that makes employees feel empowered.
See also: How can employers help the rising number of working caregivers?
For benefits leaders, understanding what caregiving looks like inside your organization is a practical first step to better support your employees. When working parents step away from their job for reasons related to reproductive care, parental leave and childcare needs, those pauses can have lasting effects on both career trajectory and wealth building. And for many, the challenge is compounded by caring for aging parents at the same time, which can limit leadership opportunities and reduce access to long-term financial benefits like equity compensation or retirement contributions. For example, Carta research suggests women are underrepresented in executive roles where equity grants tend to be larger, helping explain why women may receive a smaller share of issued equity. Equity plan features—such as vesting schedules—can also unintentionally penalize caregivers, forcing some to choose between family and career.
Once you identify the pain points caregivers face, organizations are much more equipped to build a benefits suite that keeps pace with the evolving needs of employees.
3 ways benefits leaders can build a caregiving culture
Here are three actions benefits leaders can take:
- Streamline benefits—and pressure-test them through a caregiver lens. Complex benefits and unclear guidance can make it hard to use employer‑provided benefits. Pair clearer, proactive benefits education with a hard look at equity and retirement plan design so vesting, eligibility and contribution rules don’t unintentionally penalize caregivers.
- Financial education and flexibility can be gamechangers. Flexible work and predictable schedules are key to supporting working parents because caregiving needs are unpredictable. For employees in the “sandwich generation,” career growth can compete with the possibilities of caring for children and elder parents. Benefits like backup childcare and eldercare resources can make it easier to manage day‑to‑day pressures while progressing at work. Benefits leaders can reinforce support by integrating caregiving into financial wellness education—including how to manage savings gaps and use tools like catch‑up contributions or spousal coverage.
- Empower employees and managers. Even the most thoughtfully designed benefits can fall short if employees feel they’ll be penalized for using them. Create psychological safety by giving managers simple guidance to normalize flexibility and benefit use across the organization, so working parents are encouraged to ask for support without fear.
Caregiving support shouldn’t live in a silo—it directly intersects with retirement readiness, equity participation and long‑term wealth building, areas where working parents can face disadvantages, especially moms. Even if an organization can’t meet every benefit need, small, thoughtful additions to the existing benefits suite such as flexible work arrangements, backup childcare resources, tutoring and academic support for children or dependent care FSAs, can make all the difference.
Mother’s Day offers a natural moment to celebrate caregivers—but lasting impact comes from the choices employers make the other 364 days of the year. Organizations that align benefits, culture and financial education tend to see stronger retention, higher engagement and a more resilient talent pipeline. Most employees will be caregivers or need care at some point in their lives. Building a workplace where they can talk about that reality openly, access support without fear and plan for their future is not just compassionate, it’s good business.
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