Top Corporates Commit to Supporting Employees’ Ageing Dependents!

Picture Courtesy: Business Insider

Lately, one may have noticed the emerging trend of corporates doling out benefits for their white collared employees’ dependents - aged parents and parents-in-law, with an intention to minimalize the foreseeable anxiety that comes with being a caregiver. 

 

According to Economic Times, IBM India launched the Senior Care program, to help employees balance work responsibilities with caring for ageing parents and parents-in-law who require care. This allows the company to offer subsidized rates for noncritical but essential care services that employees could request online – saving them time and effort in the process.

The program contains various elements that make it appear promising – provision of escorted pick-up and drop service to elders for hospital/medical centre visits, home health aides or attendant services for 4-12 hour periods as back-up care, home visits by nurses for shots, as well as sample collection for medical tests from residence and delivery of the hard copy of the report.

This initiative will allow IBM to monitor the utilization of various services and, on the basis of the feedback received, decide whether updating existing services or adding new facilities to the existing provisions is required.

In November last year, Deloitte unveiled its Well Being Programme (WBP), under which employees' parents and parents-in-law are provided an avenue to reach out and seek support on financial advice, anxiety-related and other issues.

Advice is provided through an exclusive helpline."Many among the senior population struggle with a sense of relevance and isolation, besides requiring assistance with medical issues. Some may be diagnosed with a life-threatening disease and have no idea how to deal with it," said SV Nathan, senior director and chief talent officer at Deloitte in India.

"The helpline is akin to a counselling service, but it's also more than that it's an outlet for our employees' parents and parents-in-law to talk about issues they're grappling with and thereby be able to reach out and ask for help." Even though India is riding the crest of a young demographic wave, sections of its population are also ageing. By 2021, the elderly in the country will number 143 million, according to a HelpAge India report last year.Deloitte unveiled its Well Being Programme (WBP) in November last year, which aims at providing an opportunity to the elderly – a vulnerably section of society, grappling with issues of loneliness, isolation and depression – to reach out and seek financial and anxiety-related counselling.  One may avail this service through an exclusive helpline, which can be availed through an exclusive helpline.

Similarly, American Express offers a parental care program known as ‘Dil Se’, responsible for providing a 24/7 health helpline – a toll-free number for employees and their dependents. It offers customized preventive and therapeutic health care packages, consultation by senior doctors and diagnostics at discounted rates to ensure the well-being of its employees’ parents, reports Economic Times.

A welcome move from India Inc. indeed!