Employees rarely request formal leave when caregiving responsibilities begin. Instead, they adjust schedules informally, rely on unstructured accommodations, and manage demands quietly often until a tipping point forces the situation into the open. By then, the impact on their well-being may have intensified, and a caregiving need may have evolved into a mental health or disability claim.

For absence management practitioners, this presents both a recognition challenge and a program design issue. This session explores the caregiving workforce before it appears in claims data, examines why elder care often falls outside traditional leave structures and leads to underutilization of available programs, and identifies opportunities to intervene earlier. It will also address how program design, manager awareness, and benefit strategies can better support employees throughout the caregiving lifecycle and consider how organizations can prepare employees for their own future care needs as part of a more cohesive leave and absence strategy.