How to set up a Carers Community at Work: A step-by-step guide

Starting a carer's community at work can be a wonderful initiative to support employees who care for their loved ones whilst working. Caregivers of infants and the elderly often face unique challenges that impact their time, finances and wellbeing. By creating a supportive community in their workplace which provides them with useful resources, ensures that sudden absenteeisms are reduced and productivity levels are maintained.

But where do you start? You’re in luck. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you get started:

Step 1: Research

Identify the need: Start by understanding the needs of caregivers in your workplace. Conduct a survey or focus groups to gather insights about the challenges they face and the type of support they would appreciate. If you’re looking for a custom made eldercare survey, don’t hesitate to get in contact and use ours. Just send an email to seniorcare@lottie.org.

Gather information: Research existing caregiver support programs in your industry or community. This will help you understand best practices and gather ideas for your own initiative. For comparison, see what kind of support and features we have available to employees at Seniorcare by Lottie.

Step 2: Find Support

Leadership buy-in: Present the idea of a carer’s community to your company's leadership or HR department. Explain the benefits it can bring: improved employee wellbeing, retention and culture.

Create care champions: Recruit a group of dedicated individuals who are passionate about caregiving support. This team of champions will help you plan, execute and sustain the community.

Step 3: Community Setup

Establish communication channels: Determine how you'll communicate within the community. This could include creating a dedicated email group, using a communication platform (like Slack or Microsoft Teams) or, as long as it isn’t invasive, set up a private social media group.

Create guidelines: Decide on guidelines for participation, respectful communication and confidentiality. Make sure the community is a safe and welcoming space for all caregivers no matter who they look after.

Step 4: Launch

Announce Community: Use multiple communication channels to announce the launch of the caregiver's community. This could be through company emails, intranet posts, flyers in the office, in-person meetings or even with your own launch event.

Highlight Benefits: Clearly communicate the benefits of joining the community, such as access to resources, knowledge sharing and emotional support from fellow colleagues.

What should a Carer’s Community do?

It’s all well and good having a community, but what should it look like? What should a carer’s community do? After launch, it’s important to make sure it is able to grow and thrive into the future. By having a clear and organised agenda of activities you can truly create a safe space where employees can feel welcome to seek guidance, share advice and provide support for others that may need it.

Here are the the sort of communal activities that should be a regular occurrence in your carer’s network:

• Share resources

  Some in the carer’s network will have more experience in care, while others might be less experienced. Sharing useful articles, websites and educational videos related to caregiving can create a repository of resources for caregivers in your community to access at will.

• Organise workshops and webinars

  Inviting guidance and support from those outside your community is incredibly important. Whether it’s about stress management, time management or navigating healthcare systems, an expert can provide a new outlook or opportunity for support.

• Discuss experiences

  By setting up regular sessions where caregivers can share their challenges and successes in a safe and understanding environment is an integral part of a carer’s network. This can hugely reduce stress, anxiety and improve the mental wellbeing of unpaid carers in your workplace.

• Feedback loop

  Continuously discuss how the group could be more effective and strive to offer better support. Seeking this feedback from community members, through discussions or surveys, ensures their needs are being met.

Evaluation and Growth

Now your carers network is in full flow, you can take a step back and analyse the performance and impact of the community. By tracking metrics such as participation rates, attendance at events and satisfaction ratings you can see which area of the community can benefit from improvement.

Consider also expanding the community’s reach and impact by partnering with a designated benefit solution. Seniorcare by Lottie works with some fantastic carer’s communities to provide expert support and guidance for their employees. With a huge host of resources and a comprehensive concierge service, they can provide that extra support that helps workers understand, find and fund eldercare.

Finally, celebrate the milestones and achievements of the caregiver's community. Recognise the efforts of community members and the positive changes they bring about for others. Without them the community would not exist and your company’s culture would be less empathetic as a result. The success of your carer’s network relies on the genuine support and engagement from every part of the business, especially the leadership team. By creating a welcoming and empathetic environment, you can provide valuable resources to navigate the unique challenges that come with care.