Professor Andreas Hoff a.hoff@hszg.de , Zittau/Goerlitz University, Germany

1. International Comparison ofWorking Carers‘ Reconciliation Strategies in Germany, Italy, Poland, and the UK IFA 11th Global Conference on Ageing 31 May 2012 Professor Andreas Hoff a.hoff@hszg.de, Zittau/Goerlitz University, Germany on behalf of the Carers@Work consortium http://www.carersatwork.tu-dortmund.de/en/

2. Contents 1. Research consortium and funding 2. Research questions 3. Rationale for selecting countries 4. Methodological design 4.1 Research methods 4.2 Theoretical sample and sample realisation 5. Socio-demographics, care and work situation 6. Combining employment and family care 6.1 Typical conflict patterns 6.2 Reconciliation strategies 7. Conclusions: How can working carers be effectively supported?

3. 1. Research consortium and funding

4. Funding This project was funded (€ 400,000) by the Volkswagen Foundation within their Research Programme “Individual and Societal Perspectives of Ageing“ for 2 years from 01/01/2009 to 31/12/2010

5. Carers@work research consortium Enterprise study: • Technical University Dortmund (Germany): Prof. Dr. Monika Reichert (Coordinator), Annette Franke • University Duisburg-Essen (Germany): Prof. Dr. Gerhard Bäcker, Angelika Kümmerling Family carer study: • University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (Germany): Dr. Hanneli Döhner, Susanne Kohler • Instituto Nazionale Riposo e Cura Anziani INRCA (Italy) Dr. Giovanni Lamura, Dr. Andrea Principi, Sara Santini • Jagiellonian University Cracow (Poland): Dr. Jolanta Perek-Bialas, Justyna Stypinska • University of Oxford (UK): Dr. Andreas Hoff, Kate Hamblin

6. 10 Research Reports • 1 Final Report Secondary Data Analysis SHARE/ELSA + EUROFAMCARE • 1 Final Report Employers Perspective • 4 National Reports (Germany, Italy, Poland, UK) • 1 International Comparative Report • 1 International Literature Review • 1 European Policy Report • 1 Expert Report on the Economic Costs of Lack of Reconciliation

7. 2. Research questions

8. Research questions • What are typical conflict situations between work and care? • What strategies do carers use to reconcile work and care for an older individual? • How does qualification level of the carers influence the reconciliation of work and care for an older individual? • How do employment and income situation of the caregivers' households influence the reconciliation of work and care? • What kind of gender inequalities result from reconciliation? • What kind of support at public, company or societal level is most efficient for the reconciliation of employment and care for older people? • Are there any country specific conflicts or reconciliation strategies? • Do carers and employers identify similar or different conflicts/strategies?

9. 3. Rationale for selecting countries

10. Country differences: Welfare state regimes(Esping-Andersen 1990; Deacon et al. 1992; Ferrara 1996)

11. Country differences: care providers

12. Country differences: Labour force participation rate of women in % (Eurostat 2010)

13. 4. Methodological design carers study

14. 4.1 Research methods

15. Who is a working carer? • According to EUROCARERS a carer is ‘a person who provides unpaid care to someone with a chronic illness, disability or other long lasting health or care need, outside a professional or formal framework’. • ‘Carers’ in this study are defined as any person who cares on an unpaid basis for someone 60 years and older (does not need to be family member), for at least 10 hours per week. • ‘Caring’ means: physical care, instrumental support, household tasks (ADL and IADL), emotional care, and management of care (excluding financial help only); • A ‘working carer’ is any person who reconciles these caring tasks and work- for this study, we have included anyone who works more than 10 hours per week in regular employment (therefore seasonal or occasional employment was not included).

16. Research methods Semi-structured, topic-guide based interviews with 60 working family carers in each of the four participating countries (Germany, Italy, Poland, UK) Problem-centred interview according to Witzel Transcription of all interviews Computer assisted analysis (MAXQDA) using qualitative content analysis Qualitative content analysis according to Mayring Same topic-guide in the 4 countries Country based analysis first (4 National Reports), feeding into comparative report

17. 4.2 Theoretical sample and sample realisation

18. Theoretical Sample • 60 interviews in each country; • Combining the aim of a mixed sample with saturation; • The desired mixed sample is as follows:

19. Realised Sample (N=226)

20. 5. Socio-demographics, work and care situation

21. Socio-demographics

22. Care situation

23. Work situation

24. 6. Combining employment and care

25. 6.1 Typical conflict patterns

26. Typical conflict situations – similar

27. Typical conflict situations – similar 27

28. Typical conflict situations – different 28

29. Conflicts: most significant cross-country variation

30. 6.2 Reconciliation strategies

31. Informal reconciliation strategies

32. Semi-formal reconciliation strategies

33. Formal reconciliation strategies

34. Strategies: most significant cross-country variation

35. 7. Conclusions

36. Outlook: How to support more effectively? Paid care leave schemes Entitlement to flexibility in workplace Entitlement to respite care, ideally at home Introduction of emergency services for carers Longer hours + greater flexibility of care services Home visits by care services (information, advice) Holiday resorts including care facilities Less bureaucracy! Shorter waiting times! Co-operation between professional + informal carers Better transition between institutional/home care Accommodate specific needs of Dementia patients

37. Thank you very much for your attention! Find out more at:http://www.carersatwork.tu-dortmund.de/en/

38. Annex: Additional information

39. Key elements of the research Carers Study International literature review Secondary data analysis of SHARE/ELSA+EUROFAMCARE N = 60 qualitative topic-guide based interviews in Germany, UK, Italy and Poland with working carers Four national reports International report Guidelines, policy briefs (B) Enterprise Study International literature review Review of enterprise-level agreements on reconciliation Identification examples of best practice expert interviews in Germany, UK, Italy and Poland Expert report on economic costs if no reconciliation European Care Policy Report Guidelines, policy briefs