'Ignoring Eldercare Will Cost Businesses Billions'

A new study suggests that local businesses stand to lose billions of dollars in future if they fail to come up with innovative solutions to retain staff who are forced to quit to take care of elderly family members.

The study – conducted by the Women's Foundation, HSBC’s life insurance unit and the University of Hong Kong – also projects that women will take up a disproportionately large share of the caregiving burden.

It also says as Hong Kong’s population ages, the total cost of residential care and home care for the elderly population will increase almost sixfold by 2060, to HK$222 billion per year.

The demographic change also means more staff will have to either switch from full-time to part-time positions; or quit their jobs entirely for a few years to care for elderly relatives. The study estimates that the indirect cost of eldercare to businesses will grow from HK$1.8 billion in 2018 to HK$8.4 billion per year by 2060.

This figure includes the cost of replacing productive staff; lost productivity due to employees taking on eldercare responsibilities; and increased absenteeism.

On the other side, staff will by 2060 shoulder a $HK7 billion hit in opportunity costs, in both lost income and delays in career advancement – up from HK$1.8 billion in 2018.

The CEO of HSBC Life, Edward Moncreiffe, said these losses can be pared back significantly – so long as employers can come up with more progressive measures and policies to allow caregivers to remain in the workforce.

“The loss of economic output as a result of not solving for this conundrum is high,” he said, “and it’s only going to get higher.”

“So it’s in businesses’ own interest to try and solve this and to try and manage this cost in a more sustainable way”, Moncreiffe added.

The CEO of the Women's Foundation, Fiona Nott, told Joanne Wong the government should start taking elderly care just as seriously as childcare, and should consider introducing statutory parental leave for caregivers, akin to maternity leave.

She added that because women tend to bear a heavier burden in terms of taking care of elderly relatives than men, “disproportionately women are dropping out of the workforce more than men, so we have a wholesale gender equality problem in the workplace.”