There's a crisis unfolding inside workplaces right now, and chances are your manager has no idea it's happening. Employees are showing up exhausted, distracted, and stretched thin - not because of burnout in the traditional sense, but because millions of them are quietly managing the care of aging parents or family members alongside their professional lives.
According to the 2025 Caregiving in the US report, released by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving, approximately 63 million Americans are currently providing unpaid family care. That's not a niche issue. That's a massive segment of the workforce carrying an invisible second job.
The problem hiding in plain sight
Writing for Fast Company, Claudia Preciado - founder, chair, and CEO of the Exceptional Women Alliance - spoke with Shari Hofer about why eldercare represents a genuine leadership crisis, even if most organizations aren't treating it like one. The conversation cuts to something real: caregiving is still widely seen as a personal matter, something employees are expected to manage quietly, outside of work hours. As if those two worlds don't constantly bleed into each other.
But the data tells a different story. When nearly a quarter of the US population is dealing with caregiving responsibilities, the ripple effects on productivity, retention, and employee wellbeing are enormous. These aren't edge cases - they're your colleagues, your direct reports, possibly your best people.
Why leaders need to start talking about it
Part of what makes eldercare such a tricky issue is that it tends to creep up gradually. Unlike parental leave, which has a defined beginning and end, caring for an aging family member can stretch on for years with no clear roadmap. Needs shift, crises emerge, and the emotional weight compounds over time.
For women especially - who still shoulder a disproportionate share of caregiving responsibilities - the career consequences can be severe. Reduced hours, passed-over promotions, or quietly stepping back from visibility at work are all common. The talent loss to organizations is real, even when it's hard to measure.
What forward-thinking workplaces can do
The good news is that awareness itself is a starting point. Companies that create space for honest conversations about caregiving - through flexible policies, employee resource groups, or simply normalizing the conversation at a leadership level - are already ahead of the curve.
This isn't about offering perks. It's about recognizing that the people doing the work of keeping your business running are also, in many cases, doing the deeply human work of keeping their families together. The least workplaces can do is stop pretending otherwise.
