Benefits for employees with children with special needs: findings from the collaborative employee benefit study.
Approximately 13-15 percent of U.S. children have special health care needs. The demands of their caregiving can affect their parents' health and workplace performance. We interviewed forty-one U.S. employers and conducted focus groups with working parents in four U.S. cities to determine the extent to which employers understand the needs of these families and to identify opportunities for improving workplace benefits for these employees beyond health insurance. Employers saw value in improving workforce performance and employee retention through expanded benefits and indicated promising opportunities to improve their response to the needs of employees with children with chronic conditions.
Perrin
James M
JM
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. jperrin@partners.org
Fluet
Christina F
CF
Honberg
Lynda
L
Anderson
Betsy
B
Wells
Nora
N
Epstein
Susan
S
Allen
Deborah
D
Tobias
Carol
C
Kuhlthau
Karen A
KA
D001900:Boston; D017028:Caregivers / Q000191:economics* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019988:Children with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005190:Family; D017407:Family Leave / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005431:Florida; D017144:Focus Groups; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee; D006701:Home Nursing / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009786:Occupational Health Services / Q000379:methods; D009820:Ohio; D016134:Organizational Policy; D017149:Private Sector / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017150:Public Sector / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014504:Urban Health; D014861:Washington