The U.S. care crisis—the collision of unaffordable childcare, a collapsing eldercare system, and policy infrastructure designed for a workforce that no longer exists—is not a social policy issue that sits outside HR’s purview. It is showing up directly in attrition data, leave patterns, performance dips among working parents, and the quiet departure of women from mid-to-senior-level roles. This episode names the stakes and makes the connection to what organizations can do now, before systemic change arrives.
Why This Matters:
The specific policy gaps (childcare funding, eldercare coverage, paid leave) that are showing up as workforce retention failures for employers
The gendered impact: why up to 70% of caregiving responsibilities fall on women, and what that means for diversity at the senior level
Why job sharing is one of the most immediately deployable organizational responses to the care crisis — without waiting on legislative change
The organizations driving the care movement: Moms First, Chamber of Mothers, Caring Across Generations, Moms Rising, and the Care Gap by Mother Honestly —and why Kamala Harris’s Medicare in-home health care policy announcement was a signal that care has finally moved to the center of the political conversation
Resources:
Episode Website: workmuse.com/21 | Transcript here
