Exemplary Employer Recognition
The Wisconsin Family and Caregiver Support Alliance (WFACSA) encourages employers to build a caregiver friendly culture within their workplace, attract and retain family caregivers, and connect their employees who have family caregiving responsibilities with critical community resources. We believe it is important to recognize employers who are models of success in addressing the financial and workforce security of employees who are family caregivers.
Wisconsin employers (large, medium, or small) who have gone above and beyond in providing family caregiver support will be recognized with the Exemplary Employer Recognition Award.
Partners in designing this award with WFACSA include the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
The application period for 2025 Exemplary Employer Recognition applications begins June 12 and remains open until August 31, 2025.
A Brief Background
Approximately one in five adult Wisconsinites is a family caregiver. Another one in eight expects to assume caregiving responsibilities for a parent, child or sibling with disabilities, their spouse, a grandparent, or other family member in the next two years. As the state’s population ages, more employees will be taking on caregiving responsibilities at home.
Employers are feeling the increasing impact on the workforce.
Wisconsin’s population of adults over the age of 65 is projected to grow 72% by 2040, while the pool of people in their prime caregiving years is shrinking. Family caregivers looking for paid help are already having a difficult time recruiting care providers due to the state’s low unemployment rate and stagnant wages for the caregiving workforce. This care workforce shortage leaves family members to perform major caregiving responsibilities at a time when an estimated 56% still hold down a full time job. Pew Research recently reported that 42% of Gen Xers are already “sandwich generation” caregivers supporting both young children and aging parents1 while 33% of Baby Boomers are caregivers.
Caregiving responsibilities for a family member are diverse and complicated. From navigating support systems and doctor appointments to providing direct care and managing daily medications, family caregivers experience significant stress. The stress is often so much that their own health, and ultimately their work, may suffer if an employer doesn’t take notice.
In Wisconsin, data from a representative survey conducted in 2021 and 2022 indicates that 8 in 10 caregivers reported having their work life interrupted: experienced 33% more days with poor mental health each month than non-caregivers (5.6 vs 4.2 days and 29% more days with poor physical health (4.5 vs 3.5 days).
According to AARP and the National Family Caregiver Alliance, employee caregiving costs employers $33 billion annually from lost productivity and an additional $6.6 billion to replace employees who retire early or quit. Due to stress and neglect of their own health, caregiver employees are also estimated to cost an additional $13.4 billion more per year in health care than their co-workers without such responsibilities.
In a 2018 Wisconsin Family and Caregiver Support Alliance survey of more than 200 Wisconsin employers, nearly three-quarters indicated that caregiving responsibilities of their employees were causing increased stress for both employees and supervisors on the job.
Wisconsin employers are responding to the rise in the number of working family caregivers with new programs that support employees not only with young children but family members who require care throughout the lifespan. These new programs, benefits, and innovative ways of creating supportive cultures within the workplace are paying off.
How to Apply
It is free to apply for WFACSA’s Exemplary Employer Recognition.
Benefits of Applying
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Employers who win Exemplary Employer Recognition will be promoted by WFACSA, the Wisconsin DHS and Wisconsin DWD to job seekers and community partners.
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Featured in a press release promoting the winners.
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Promoted on social media outlets throughout the year.
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Listed as an WFACSA Exemplary Employer on Job Center of Wisconsin where job seekers can search specifically for jobs posted by Exemplary Employers.
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Supplied with an WFACSA Exemplary Employer emblem to include on the employer’s website, receive additional social media assets to connect employees to free and low-cost community resources, and a media kit for self-promotion.
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Provided a framed certificate
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Offered the opportunity to appear in a WFACSA video production to inspire other employers to adopt caregiver friendly policies in the workplace.
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Featured in the WFACSA HR Care Kit distributed throughout Wisconsin to caregivers, employers, and community support professionals.
Award Criteria
Applicants should be able to:
Share examples of ways they are supporting family caregivers in the workplace.
Demonstrate an understanding of how many of their employees have caregiving responsibilities for a child, parent, sibling, other family members.
Demonstrate how they offer employees connection to resources, financial support, personal assistance, and development opportunities such as:
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Paid time off for family caregivers
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Flexible work schedule opportunities to accomodate family caregivers
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Self-care resources available on-site or within the community
Applicants will be asked to identify workplace resources available to employees such as:
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Employee Resource Groups that focus on workplace and home supports for family caregivers.
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Caregiver-specific communication and retention efforts within the workplace.
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Caregiver-specific resources and educational programs within the workplace.
Applicants will be asked to provide at least one story about an employee who has family caregiving responsibilities that has family caregiving responsibilities that has been able to remain engaged in employment due to measures taken by the employer.
