The Cost of Not Caring #author Dr Abby Bloom

The Cost of Not Caring: Working while caring in the era of longevity.

Written for CEOs, directors, managers, employees and government, it makes a compelling business case in dollars and sense for supporting people working and caring for ageing parents – and others.


The Cost of Not Caring: Working while caring in the era of longevity
 is the single most important book companies, managers, governments and employees need to read to understand and manage the challenges of work and longevity. Written for directors, CEOs, managers, employees, and policy makers, it makes a compelling business case in dollars and sense for supporting people working and caring for aging parent and others.

The book is designed as a practical, easy read for busy people. It focusses on five countries: USA, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, while drawing on practical examples from others. It explains critical determinants and features underlying our aging societies and playing out in the workplace now and decades into the future. It then explores the concepts and dynamics underlying the longevity and care economy today. To help employers better identify, communicate with, manage and support the 1 in 6 staff who are supporting aging parents, one chapter contains typical, short profiles of people who are working while caring.

Comparisons among the five nations highlights commonalities, differences and opportunities to improve productivity at minimal or no cost. Employers will want to read the chapter describing what leading companies do to support employees working while caregiving – and their business rationale. The book ends with a Quick Start guide and a short list of curated resources specific to each country.\

To connecr with Abby ...
https://drabbybloom.com/the-book/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/abby-bloom-91b809b/
https://www.amazon.com/Cost-Not-Caring-Working-longevity/dp/B0GJNP3MGS 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:02

It's good evening, Dr. Abby Bloom. Welcome to Yellow Shelf. Thank you so much, Joanna. It's a delight to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Oh, my pleasure. Congratulations. You have a book out. It's available now, The Cost of Not Caring. Abby, tell us all about the book.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Well, um, the book is also explained by the subtitle, which is Working While Caring in the Era of Longevity. And the book was written to address the, frankly, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Australian and 63 million Americans, as well as people in Canada and the UK and New Zealand who are trying to work and also be unpaid carers or caregivers. And you heard about the sandwich generation, tell me it's been done to death. But the chances are these days the people are actually caring for more than a couple of generations. Time and time again, I ran into people who were what I call the Uber Club Sandwich Generation, because there were four generations involved. It's based on years of research, interviews with hundreds of people. And what I sought to do, because it hadn't been done before, was to put together three things. One, um, a very lucid, simple, easy to read, and simple uh explanation of where we are, how we got here, and where we are heading in this era of longevity when you look at work and care in that mix. Second, to um look at the uh what we call personas or profiles of people who are in the situation so that readers could identify with it with that and explore some of the um tensions. Um is positive, some some of it is it involves some negative emotions and feelings, not to mention stress. And three, really most important, to have a bit make it a very practical guide for the three groups that really have to, well, urgently get onto this. First, governments, and that's really important, and you see the difference where governments actually are caring. Um, second, employers, and and most employers don't know who's carrying this burden, they don't ask, they don't count, and so of course it's really difficult to address it. And finally, um the the employers themselves, uh, not every caregiver, unpaid caregiver is a woman, not everyone is middle-aged, um, about 12% are young, young people, yeah, and about almost a third of men. However, um, you know, we really are looking mostly at an age group between about 45 and 65. Um, so there are people who are in the prime of their careers and they're just they're just struggling. Um so uh I think first and foremost, I try to make it readable and allow people to go from chapter to chapter, depending on what their needs are at this time.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

And Abby, when I think about what your book is delivering, I mean the reality that there's there'll be people listening and watching this who have caring responsibilities and who are also in paid work and who have many juggles, and that can be incredibly challenging, but you tapped into, you know, this is not just a family or a wider family problem. This is like a workforce, an economic, a social issue that I think everyone listening will either relate to directly or know someone and feel that. So I'm wondering, Abby, do you want to tell us why why you wrote the book and anything about you that, you know, kind of gives us some perspective there on your your writing?

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Well, you your your comment is really really fundamental. Um, it's a workforce issue, it's a national economic productivity issue, it's a personal issue. Visuals, but it also has this moral overlay um where most of us, um, if we are lucky enough to have parents alive, um, do feel a moral obligation. And that evokes a lot of other strong emotions, like, are we doing enough? Um, should I be doing more? So there are a couple of inspirations for it. First, um, I had a wake-up moment, and that happened at my mother's 104th birthday party when she stood up and gave a very funny speech. And I realized she had been in the paid workforce for 40 years and she had been retired for 40 years and was thriving. She was online every day, playing bridge online, going out and so forth. But that in our current society, it's it things are just not going to work out that neatly for all of us. The other thing I recognized with her is that she had been in a situation and I lived through it, and I it it I it didn't even occur to me that that um when I was a teenager and young adult, she was going to work and also caring for her partner who got very early onset Parkinson's. Um, and finally, um she lived 209 and she lived at home, she had paid care all that time because she could have she could afford it. Um, the second inspiration, obviously, is my work and my colleagues. Um, some people who are over the age of 60 will say this is all we talk about at dinner parties, if it still has time for dinner parties. Um, and then the final thing was what after I did research, I realized no one had before had put this all together like this, had identified the cost to nations, to business, productivity, to individuals, all the drivers, and put it together with this practical bent.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Thank you for your work. I mean, I we were talking off camera. I mean, a lot of workplaces don't even understand this or have a concept of it. Um, and hey, I can't influence governments, but you know, for those listening who are in workplaces or who are have some sort of the level of responsibility in a workplace, you know, be really mindful that this is an issue that you need to be attentive to.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Yes. Well, I'll just make one comment about that. It was fascinating for me, and I hadn't or but should have expected that the people who most understood and possibly were or had been most affected by this were the senior managers, CEOs, and board directors.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

And they were very, very blunt and candid with me. So um most people who are unpaid carers don't talk about it. Research says it takes almost a year for someone to realize, hey, I'm actually a carer, as opposed to, um, well, I'm a wife. This is this is what uh what we do. And so it's this partly silent situation. But I did what I did find is that there is more empathy and understanding in the workplace than you would think. Now, that doesn't translate into willingness to pay for lots of benefits.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Yeah, there's the there's the trick. Yeah. Abby, if we're watching anywhere in the world and we're curious about this work, I mean, this is really interesting stuff. If we're curious about you and your book, I know you have a website, uh, you're on LinkedIn, like I'll put some links in the show notes, but you point us in the direction of where we should go to learn more and get the book.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Sure, sure. Well, if you're in Australia, um copies of the book are available through the book advisor who is just who has published and distributed it. And on their site, if you type in the book advisor, um, the cost of not caring, you get to it immediately. Um, elsewhere in the world, it's Amazon. Okay. Yes. Uh well, and there is another book with the same title, so you'll have to just look carefully and find the author Abby Bloom, The Cost of Not Caring.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

I will make sure the details go in the show notes. Abby, thanks for writing the book. All the best. Thank you. Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure. Cheers. Cheers.