By Aoibhinn Mc Bride
While having a career and a family are two fundamental elements of the time-honored American Dream narrative, "having it all" isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
And for the majority of Americans, the reality of raising kids, being on call for aging parents and climbing the career ladder is overshadowed by the struggle of trying to balance it all.
That's according to a
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The study found that 71% of middle-aged Americans are caregivers for both their children and their parents, 70% balance full-time jobs with caregiving duties, spending an average of 37 hours per week giving care (on top of a 40 hour work week) and 71% struggle financially due to caregiving responsibilities.
Additionally, these financial constraints have left 63% living paycheck to paycheck, 51% accruing credit card debt and 75% unable to put any money away to save for their own retirement.
This is because the average amount being spent on caregiving amounts to $2,054 per month, which equates to needing a salary of at least $108,607 in order to afford this amount and as a result, 33% said they couldn't afford to outsource senior care, so they had to manage these responsibilities themselves.
Gender plays a significant role in caregiving roles and the survey also established that women in the sandwich generation spend 34% more time each week than men on caregiving responsibilities.
The eternal juggle
While 70% of those juggling caregiving responsibilities have a full time job, 29% work in a hybrid capacity and 28% work remotely which has been proven to ease the burden of juggling home and work life.
However, 17% detailed that they wished their employers were more accommodating around flexible schedules or working remotely in a full-time capacity. Of those who have more flexible schedules, 49% said a flexible work arrangement has made caregiving easier.
Unsurprisingly all this juggling has left 70% struggling to have any personal time for themselves, 62% feeling stressed, 52% struggling to balance work and caregiving and 43% feeling under pressure that they're not doing both adequately which can lead to 'caregiver burnout'.
Finding balance
So, how can those who must juggle multigenerational caring responsibilities with full time employment strike the right balance?
Taking control of your finances is the first step and from using a budgeting tool to speaking to a financial advisor to exploring financial assistance from the likes of
You can also seek assistance and additional resources via support groups such as
It's also important to let your employer know what your caregiving responsibilities are and the time-constraints you have to factor into your working day in order to keep everything—and everyone—ticking over.
Your employer should be empathetic enough to accommodate you, from facilitating remote work for some of the week to understanding if you need to change your lunch break so you can accompany an elderly relative to a hospital appointment or attend your child's PTA meeting.
However, if you feel as though your employer isn't receptive and it's becoming increasingly difficult for you to juggle your work and personal responsibilities, it could be time to start thinking about finding a new opportunity with an employer that offers greater flexibility and isn't going to implement a mandatory RTO (return to office) order any time soon.
And if that is the case, the
