According to the results of a survey commissioned by the care charity Kinship, 74% of kinship carers were in paid employment before taking on a caregiving role. However, 80% of those who stopped working after becoming carers have never returned to any form of paid employment.
Kinship carers are adults linked to children whose parents are unable to look after them on a short- or long-term basis.
For many HR leaders, kinship care is still something of a blind spot, explained founder of consultancy The HR Practice, Fiona McKee.
She told HR magazine: “Policies are often designed with traditional families in mind: parents, maternity and paternity. Kinship carers fall outside of these categories, despite taking on equally significant, and often more sudden responsibilities. Without the right support, it’s little surprise that many feel forced to choose between their job and their family. That choice shouldn’t exist.
“Employers have an opportunity and a responsibility to ensure kinship carers aren’t side-lined. This starts with formally recognising kinship carers within HR policies, and ensuring they are explicitly included in any benefits or leave entitlements related to caregiving. Retention is absolutely possible, but only when employers approach this issue with empathy, clarity, and action.”
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Employees with kinship care responsibilities don’t often make rash decisions to leave their jobs, added Antonio Ribeiro, founder of Yurtle, an insurance provider that aims to support employees who are balancing caring responsibilities with paid work.
Speaking to HR magazine, Ribeiro said: “Employees with dependents don’t make snap decisions to quit. It tends to be the product of a series of work and care clashes over two to three years, leading someone to conclude that something has got to give. Naturally, though with difficulty, people choose loved ones.
“Employers who are doing the best job of retention are those who are helping people overcome those regular work/care conflicts, either through generous leave, flexible working hours that prioritise outcomes as opposed to rewarding 'face time' culture, workplace care facilities such as workplace nurseries, tangible financial support for care costs, or raising the profile of parents/carers, to demystify them.”
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Kinship’s research also highlighted that 3% of kinship carers were able to take any form of discretionary paid leave, and 8% were able to take unpaid leave.
Half (51%) of kinship carers who had been in work before becoming a carer believed that paid employment leave would have enabled them to return to work as before (32%), or to some extent (19%).
Kinship carers who do return to work often face significant hurdles, said Geeta Nargund, chair of gender parity consultancy The Pipeline.
She told HR magazine: "Far too often, those who have had to take time off from work for caring responsibilities can face significant hurdles in their career pipeline when they return from work – and may find that the senior roles they had been aiming for are now out of reach. Ensuring key processes such as progress reviews and development plans are in place can be reassuring for the individual that they are not being treated any differently from their colleagues and allows them to retain their own professional identity within the workplace.
"This is especially important for women, who are often expected to place more emphasis on caring roles with little consideration for their career aspirations, and who are already frequently overlooked for more senior positions"
Kinship surveyed 1,300 kinship carers in September 2024 for its annual survey.
