busy

The answer to “Sandwich Generation” retention How do you retain your valuable employees who find themselves in the “Sandwich Generation” - a generation of people who care for their aging parents while supporting their own children? Imagine an employee who leaves work 30 mins early to pick up mom’s prescription, then fights traffic for another 45 minutes to get to the daycare on time and avoid the exorbitant late fee. Once they are home, they whirl around the kitchen, trying to whip together a healthy meal for their family while struggling with the guilt from missed time at the office. I’m sure this is all too familiar for most of you.  After all, the Pew Research Center, reported just over one of every eight Americans aged 40 to 60 is both raising a child and caring for a parent, in addition to between seven and ten million adults caring for their aging parents from a long distance.  These individuals are at war with themselves - struggling with demands from so many with so few hours in the day.  They know the importance of putting family first, but they also know what is expected of them at the office. For the ones I know, their professional life is a safe haven. It is the place where they can give 100% and reap tremendous rewards with often quantifiable measures of success.  It feeds their sense of accomplishment, pays their bills and hopefully allows them to financially prepare for their own “golden years”.  That is unless it is totally derailed by the competing factors previously mentioned.  Do you doubt for a minute that it happens?  You know it does.  The question isn’t IF it happens, but rather how frequently.