Dr. Kara McGann:

A number of employers see this as a key issue as part of their workforce. They may have a multigenerational workforce and we know that care can be sudden and unexpected, so it can really span the workforce generally. Many employers focused in on that during Covid, when it was spotlighted in a way it had not been previously. While some knew of working carers within their organisations, it became more obvious that there were potentially more of them.

We have seen many employers engage with the Family Carers Ireland Caring Employers programme, which has a number of different structures, and others have gone it alone and worked on direct pieces in this area. Typically, they have engaged with people in their organisations and they have found that people who have caring responsibilities-----