″ELDERCARE″: A GROWING ISSUE FOR EMPLOYEE AND EMPLOYER Available to Purchase

In order to encourage women to work and reduce the effects of the skills shortage of the mid‐1990s, flexible working patterns and child care are often seen as of key importance. An ageing population is leading to increasingly intrusive “eldercare” (caring for elderly dependants) burdens upon women employees and managers which make it hard for them to enter the workforce. The extent of the ageing problem in the population is examined. The effects of eldercare burdens upon individuals and organisations are discussed and corporate responses to the problem in the US are described as possible ways ahead in the treatment of eldercare as part of an employee benefits programme.