Healthy Boiler

Employees’ diverse care needs supported by Care@Work partnership

Many members of the Purdue community are familiar with caregiving needs – unexpected sick days, school holidays, surgery of a parent, a caregiver quits, children need extra academic help and the list goes on. In an effort to assist you with needs such as these, Human Resources introduced an added benefit to support the diverse care needs of Purdue’s employees – Care@Work by Care.com.

According to Purdue University Senate’s “The State of Caregiving, Wave 4 Survey Fact Sheet”:

  • 8 percent of Purdue employees report caregiving responsibilities
  • 8 percent report needing backup care at times
  • 70 percent feel overwhelmed by caregiving responsibilities

“In support of the work-life integration pillar of the Healthy Boiler Program, we’ve partnered with Care.com to support the diverse family care needs of our employees,” said Candace Shaffer, senior director of benefits in Human Resources. “We want to make it easier for Purdue employees to find the care they need – whether it’s for a child, a parent or even a pet. In addition to the work-life integration pillar, Care@Work aligns with the behavioral health pillar in that having this additional benefit can help reassure parents and caregivers they have trusted options when care is needed.”

The Care@Work benefit has been well received by Purdue employees. As of August 16, 2021, program stats are:

  • 460 employees have enrolled in the benefit
  • 16 back-up care days have been utilized
  • 2,323 total visits to the site
  • 124 jobs have been posted by our population
  • 673 searches have been made for caregivers
  • 2,279 messages have been sent to caregivers by our employees

Register today

Benefits-eligible employees can register at purdue.care.com to access their Care@Work benefits outlined below. Download the Care@Work mobile app (available on Google Play and the App Store) to request backup care.

About Care@Work by Care.com

Care.com is the largest online community for short- and long-term care for children, seniors, pets and more. In addition to the Care@Work network of vetted professional caregivers, Care.com has several online tools and resources to help employees navigate their caregiving needs.

The partnership with Care.com provides Purdue employees a free Care.com membership, discounted child and adult backup care and tuition discount.

Care.com Membership allows employees to:

  • Search caregivers in any zip code for child, senior and pet care, tutoring, housekeeping and more
  • Connect with a network of individual and corporate care providers
  • Find ongoing, occasional and backup care providers based on profiles, reviews and ratings
  • Post jobs to find caregivers

Backup care is available for:

  • Child and adult care
  • Times when regular care arrangements for dependent children and adults aren’t available

Backup care options include:

  • In-home backup childcare –10 days per year; in-home copay of $8/hour
  • Out-of-home backup childcare – 10 days per year at a childcare or family childcare center, made on a space available basis; copay of $15 per day
  • In-home backup adult care – 10 days per year for non-medical services, including companionship, meal prep, light housekeeping, medication prompting, doctor’s appointments and assistance with daily activities; copay of $8 per hour

Care@Work resources  

  • Blog

 Care@Work offers a blog, which addresses a variety of topics

  • Guides, articles, tools and more

Complete guides on childcare, senior care and pet care along with articles and more is available via the Care.com’s “Learn from the experts” web page. 

  • Podcasts

Care@Work’s Equal Parts podcast is a podcast for working parents. A full list of past Equal Parts podcasts are available for listening here.

  • Webinars

Webinars are offered throughout the year by Care@Work and are advertised in Purdue Today prior to the event.

Learn more

Questions

Contact Human Resources at 765-494-2222, toll-free at 877-725-0222 or via email at hr@purdue.edu