Caregivers in the middle: The hidden workforce struggle employers can’t ignore

Being stuck in the middle isn’t just a metaphor — it’s daily life for the sandwich generation. These are the working parents juggling the care of kids while also supporting aging parents, and it’s a lot. Between the rising costs of childcare, senior care, and just everyday life, the pressure is mounting, especially for women who still tend to shoulder most of the caregiving. In this episode, we speak with Naaz Nichols, chief customer experience officer at Care.com about her own difficult journey juggling her dad’s health needs along with her two children as a single parent. She shares how she had to give up her job and sell her house, so she could find the right care for them all. Countless hours disappear into the black hole of researching, coordinating, and worrying about adequate care for aging loved ones. Hotel group Hilton has sought to address this issue for its employees. We speak with Lora Lawler, SVP of total rewards and HR technology for Hilton, about how its partnership with Wellthy provides an invaluable service to its employees in caregiving roles, shaving thousands of hours off their searches and giving them vital peace of mind by vetting caregivers and facilities on their behalf. And we speak with Sarah Robb O’Hagan, an entrepreneur, author, and former global president at Gatorade, who shares how her own parents’ diagnoses affected her mental health at a time when she had three young kids and was working full-time. She also talks about how more flexible structures within corporations can benefit both parents and businesses.

You can listen to Caregivers in the middle: The hidden workforce struggle employers can’t ignore online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Caregivers in the middle: The hidden workforce struggle employers can’t ignore is an episode from The Return.

This episode is 38:29 long.

This episode was published on Apr 12, 2025.

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