Employers' Perspectives of Caregiver-Friendly Workplace Policies for Caregiver-Employees Caring for Older Adults in Hong Kong: Thematic Analysis.

Abstract

Background: Caregiver-friendly workplace policies (CFWPs) are rare in Hong Kong. With Hong Kong facing a "silver tsunami" in the near future, it is important to understand the need for such policies and the views of employers for future facilitation.

Objective: This study aimed to identify the support that is currently provided or that could be provided to caregiver-employees (CEs) caring for older adults in Hong Kong and assess the challenge and facilitative support for employers to adopt CFWPs in the specific context of Hong Kong.

Methods: A qualitative research design with semistructured individual in-depth interviews with employers from Hong Kong was adopted for this study. A purposive snowball sampling method was used to recruit participants from the 7 primary industries mentioned in the Hong Kong census and from all 3 employer types (private, public, and nongovernmental organizations), which allowed the inclusion of participants sensitized to the idea and potential of CFWPs. Thematic framework analysis was used to evaluate the data collected during the interviews.

Results: We interviewed 17 employers and managers from 7 major industries in Hong Kong (2.5 to 120,000 employees). There were 4 (24%) male and 13 (76%) female participants, and the participant age ranged from 30 to 50 years. All participants held managerial positions at the time of the interview. Of the 17 participants, 13 were from private companies, 2 were from public institutions, and 2 were from nongovernmental organizations. Four of the companies had a global presence. Four main themes were identified: (1) current support and potential support for CEs (which was limited to discretionary annual leave and unpaid leave when annual leave was exhausted), (2) challenges in adopting CFWPs, (3) facilitating support for adopting CFWPs, and (4) incentives for adopting CFWPs. The participants rated information and resources for CEs (mean 8.56, SD 0.37), bereavement leave (mean 8.47, SD 0.63), flexible working hours (mean 8.32, SD 0.48), and caregiver-inclusive corporate culture (mean 8.32, SD 0.48) as essential CFWPs for CEs in Hong Kong.

Conclusions: While several studies have reported the types of CFWPs and their impacts on CEs, stakeholders' perspectives on CFWPs have been rarely investigated. This study found that although employers consider CFWPs as necessary and see them as a catalyst for a long-term win-win situation, the current support for CEs is discretionary and industry-specific. Government leadership is critical for formulating, piloting, and implementing CFWPs to create a friendly environment that encourages disclosure with trust and respect across industrial sectors in Hong Kong. This study identified the current unmet needs and demands of CEs from the employer's perspective, the barriers to large-scale adoption of CFWPs, and the path forward to inform further discourse and policy formulation in Hong Kong.