The carer equation: How smart employers are turning crisis into talent
June 10, 2025Posted by:
Every day, 600 people leave their jobs to care for someone they love.
That number isn’t a footnote, it’s a crisis point. We are watching a silent workforce exodus that few leaders are prepared for. One in seven UK employees is already balancing work with unpaid caring duties. And yet most employers have no visibility, no plan, and no strategy.
What’s worse? The future is already here:
- The UK's care infrastructure is crumbling under demographic pressure.
- Carers are being pulled out of the workforce faster than they’re being replaced.
- The talent loss isn't just emotional, it's economically catastrophic.
Smart employers aren’t asking if they employ carers.
They’re asking how to support, retain, and promote them, before someone else does.
The £184 billion workforce no one talks about
The care economy is the hidden engine of British productivity and it’s being run off goodwill and grit.
Unpaid carers now deliver care valued at £184.3 billion annually, up nearly 30% since 2011. That’s almost the entire NHS budget. Without them, according to leading care economists, our health and social care systems would collapse.
And yet they are systemically overlooked.
This is not an empathy play, it’s a talent strategy. Carers demonstrate precisely the qualities most in demand:
- Time management under pressure
- Crisis response without panic
- Emotional intelligence that builds strong teams
Still think they're a flight risk? They're actually your resilience strategy.
Carers are not a burden to accommodate, they are a core workforce to invest in. Avoid designing leadership development and retention pipelines without accounting for care realities.
Hidden drain: The real cost of replacing a carer
Here’s what many decision makers don’t realise: The price of losing a carer is not just recruitment, it’s a compound loss.
Replacing a mid-senior employee costs £20K–£40K. For senior roles, it’s closer to £100K once you factor in onboarding, disruption, and lost productivity.
But those numbers miss something critical: carers take institutional knowledge with them. They’re often long-tenured, high-context employees. Their loss hits morale, continuity, and culture.
Support is cheaper than attrition and smarter long-term. Avoid thinking your carer policies are "nice-to-haves." They are economic infrastructure.
The over-50s trap and the youth penalty
We’re losing experience and future leadership in one stroke.
Workers aged 50–64 are the most likely to become carers and the hardest to replace. They’ve built up client relationships, technical knowledge, and cross-functional insight. Letting them go is not just costly, it’s negligent.
Meanwhile, younger carers are trading growth for survival. 41% worry they’ll never find jobs that support both their ambition and care duties. Many accept roles below their skill level just for the flexibility.
This is how workplace inequality calcifies, through quiet compromise.
If you're not tracking how caring responsibilities skew your talent pipeline, you're flying blind. Avoid assuming flexibility means the same thing for all ages. Younger carers need progression, not just patience.
Culture over policy: Why benefits alone don’t work
Having a carer policy isn’t the same as having a carer culture.
The Carer’s Leave Act gives five unpaid days a year. But most carers can’t afford to take them. Early uptake is below 5%, and some firms have used the Act to reduce paid leave to match the legal minimum.
Worse, many carers don’t even disclose their status. Why?
- Fear of being passed over
- Embarrassment or stigma
- Past experiences of punitive management
Policies don’t work when employees hide who they are. That’s why the best employers train managers to ask better questions, hold confidentiality, and act with empathy.
True support is cultural, not contractual. Avoid assuming disclosure rates = need rates. The silence hides the storm.
The blueprint: What ‘good’ actually looks like
Let’s stop reinventing the wheel. We know what works.
Best-in-class employers combine five things:
- Paid carer leave (10+ days is the emerging standard)
- Flexible roles and job redesign, not just hours
- Carer networks that build community and reduce isolation
- Manager training on inclusive leadership
- Visible champions to normalise care conversations
PeoplePlus’s Carers Hub shows what a scaled model of support can look like.
“Good” is not theoretical. It’s already happening. Copy it. Avoid rolling out support in a vacuum. Design with not just for carers.
Competitive advantage: The social value equation
In a procurement-driven economy, social value isn’t a slogan, it’s a differentiator.
The Social Recruitment Covenant has over 300 signatories already, including Currys, Openreach, and Lidl. It positions employers to win public contracts, attract socially conscious talent, and build inclusive brands that reflect modern Britain.
And it’s not just about optics.
- Retention improves.
- Engagement spikes.
- Cost per hire drops when reputation leads.
ESG isn’t a future trend. It’s now and carers are the frontline.
Sign today and support us: https://peopleplus.co.uk/socialrecruitmentcovenant
Supporting carers aligns with your ESG, HR, and commercial priorities. One move, three wins. Avoid treating social value as a report filler. It's your growth story.
Ignore this now, and pay for it later: in lost talent, lost contracts, and lost trust.
The numbers are clear. The business case is proven. The tools already exist.
The question is: what will you do next?
Support unpaid carers and you don’t just retain staff. You demonstrate what your company stands for when it matters most.
June 10, 2025Posted by:
