When Jenna Leo was 26, she became the primary caregiver for her parents-in-law after they moved to Sydney from Montreal.
She and her partner Matt were working full time, and hadn’t realised how much support each of his parents would need until they made the move overseas. Not only did his mum and dad each have illnesses (his dad had lung cancer and mum contracted encephalitis), but they also struggled to make friends and maintain their independence living in a new country.
“Because of their memory, they weren’t able to find their way home,” Jenna shares on a recent panel for carer inclusivity, put on by Women’s Agenda and Carers Australia.
“So this meant that Matt and I, as 26-year-olds, were working full time, would have to either leave work and go get them or we’d have to spend an hour trying to find them and direct them home. So it was a really challenging time.”
The Women’s Agenda panel, in partnership with Carers Australia, aimed to highlight the essential role carers play in Australia and the opportunity workplaces have to better support them.
Luckily, a friend of Jenna and Matt, who was a 25-year-old working part-time in Sydney and missing her parents, asked if she could help out. The friend took Matt’s parents on a bus to the beach for an outing that turned out to be very beneficial for everyone.
Seeing the positive impact this had on her parents-in-law, her friend and herself and Matt, Jenna knew this filled a service gap that millions of other people faced as well. They created Like Family, a registered NDIS disability and aged care provider connecting social support workers to Australians looking to enjoy hobbies and daily life.
Jenna’s tech startup has since been honoured with various awards and funding, including the Cartier Women’s Initiative, SBE Impact awards and the Tomorrow Fund.
“Something that I’ve learned a lot about– and it’s not just about caring for someone– it’s really about having someone that you can connect with and someone that can bring independence to the whole family and the whole community,” says Jenna.
This support and connection from caregivers is all the more important following the Covid pandemic, as Emma Walsh, CEO of Parents at Work says their recent National Working Family Survey shows that stress has increased since 2019, despite more workplaces adopting flexible work practices.
Speaking to this “worrying trend”, Annabel Reid, CEO of Carers Australia explains that the cause is often that employees don’t feel they’re able “to talk about what their caring responsibilities are”.
Considering that caregiving can be a 24/7 responsibility and reach up to 105 hours a week on top of a full-time job, Reid says it’s important for workplaces to have transparent conversations and be responsive to the unpredictability of care demands.
Walsh has seen firsthand the benefits of workplaces taking the initiative to implement inclusive workplace policies and take a people-focused approach.
She noted the reality that we’re all likely to need care or to care for someone else at some point in our working lives.
“So this is all about how we keep people connected to the workplace,” says Walsh. “It’s better for everyone. It’s better for individuals, it’s better for the workplace, it’s better for our economy, to keep people attached to the workforce.”
“We have to start getting our heads out of the sand. Work-life conflict exists for all of us. And if we can reduce it, then we’re all better off for it.”
Blair Hawthorne, a Program Director at NAB is also chair of their Employee Resource Group, NABility, which supports NAB colleagues with disabilities and carers.
He and his wife are parents to 3 little people, Henry (10), Oscar (10) and Fred (8), who is autistic.
“He doesn’t have a malicious bone in his body. He’s deeply protective of his brother, but he is tough work. That’s the cold, hard, honest truth of it,” says Hawthorne, about balancing caring for Fred and continuing full-time work.
“It was particularly tough when he was younger. We would help him to learn how to speak properly.”
Hawthorne says sticking to a routine has been critical to his being able to care for Fred properly while maintaining his full-time career. Prioritising things like taking Fred to speech therapy or having milkshakes on Friday mornings is very important, and he’s made sure to communicate this to his team.
“I reckon, if you’re a carer, you’re so advantaged if you can have that conversation. And you want to be as transparent as possible,” says Hawthorne.
“The thing I’d advise is to look for progress, don’t look for perfection. Take the first step. Don’t have a five-year plan. Don’t have a two-year plan. Just get through the week, and get through the day.”
For more information, employers should check out Carers Australia’s helpful resource for building a carer-inclusive workplace.