Family caregiver and caregiver: how to reconcile professional and personal life?

Caring employees today constitute 20% of the working population, or one in five workers. According to the “Help and work 2020” barometer carried out by Interfacia, 50.1% help their child or spouse and 70.9% are worried about the impact of the caregiving situation on their work.

Being a helper and working: how can I organize my working time? What does the labor code say?

One in five caregivers supports a sick, disabled or dependent relative for at least 20 hours per week. An often complicated daily life where you have to juggle your personal and professional obligations. Although caregivers can access different support systems – caregiver leave, part-time work, etc. – these are sometimes unsuitable or insufficient.

“Many caregivers do not use assistance because they are unaware of their rights or because they fear being stigmatized by their employer,” confirms Laure Soulier-Vezine.

The proof is: the use of the daily caregiver allowance (AJPA) is relatively low. In question? Lack of knowledge of the service, poor understanding of the eligibility conditions and the complexity of the request.

How to obtain caregiver status?

Currently, there is no legal status for caregivers. However, article L. 113-1-3 of the Social Action and Families Code recognizes “ as a caregiver of an elderly person, their spouse, the partner with whom they have entered into a civil solidarity pact or their partner, a parent or an ally, defined as family caregivers, or a person residing with them or maintaining ties with them close and stable, who helps him, regularly and frequently, in a non-professional capacity, to carry out all or part of the acts or activities of daily life. »

Can I work part time?

Among the needs most often expressed by helping employees, flexibility comes out on top. The schedules put even more pressure on the caregiver who must juggle between their professional activity and the vagaries of the caregiving situation: absence of a professional caregiver, delay in suitable transport, etc. Knowing that you can arrive a quarter an hour late and catching up later, already takes a weight off their shoulders », confides Laure Soulier-Vezine.

The helping employee can request an arrangement of their working time from their employer. According to article L.3121-49 of the Labor Code, employees benefit at their request, “ an individualized schedule arrangement designed to facilitate their access to employment, their professional exercise or retention in their employment. Family caregivers and relatives of a disabled person benefit, under the same conditions, from an individualized schedule arrangement designed to facilitate the support of this person. »

Caregiver leave: how to benefit from it?

Caregiver leave offers the possibility of temporarily suspending professional activity to care for a loved one with a disability or loss of autonomy. It is applicable upon hiring and is compensated immediately without condition of seniority.

However, this leave is subject to conditions: the loved one assisted must be a disabled person with a disability rate equal to or greater than 80% recognized by the departmental center for disabled people (MDPH) or subject to a loss of autonomy with a degree of dependence determined by the departmental council (GIR 1 to 4).

Its duration is three months, renewable for up to one year over the entire professional career. Subject to the employer's agreement, caregiver leave can also be split by day or half-day in order to provide part-time work at the same time and can be taken in several installments.

Caregiver leave is compensated by the AJPA in the amount of €64.54 per day.

Caregiver: what about teleworking?

The law of July 19, 2023 aimed at strengthening the protection of families of children suffering from an illness or disability or victims of a serious accident strengthens access to teleworking for caring employees. “ Teleworking can be beneficial when it avoids adding extra travel timeexplains Laure Soulier-Vezine. On the other hand, it is not the answer to everything. Indeed, even if professional activity increases organizational constraints, for some caregivers going to work allows them to maintain a social life, not to isolate themselves and to experience something other than their role as caregiver. »

Parent of a disabled child: parental presence leave

Parental presence leave is aimed at parents with a dependent child requiring sustained presence and restrictive care. (child suffering from an illness, disability, etc.). The leave is granted for a maximum duration of 310 days and can be taken in fractions of a day or half day within a limit of three years. He is compensated by the daily parental presence allowance (AJPP) in the amount of €58.59 per day (€29.30 for half a day).

Being a helper: what if it was an asset for the employer?

Because they fear, sometimes rightly, of being stigmatized, caregivers tend not to discuss their situation with their employer. “Caring employees scare companies, who imagine them as a “burden” and expect additional difficulties, heaviness to manage, in addition to the numerous daily obligationswe read in the work Caregivers. In truth, if companies take into account the concerns that support their employees, they become real resources for them, in terms of economic growth and sustainable managerial culture. » By juggling their work, their loved one and their family, caregivers even develop certain “soft skills”: organizational agility, decision-making, emotional and relational intelligence, etc. Enough to change the way we look at caregivers…

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