Caring for a Parent While Holding Down a Job: The Mental Health Toll Employers Can No Longer Ignore
Published on 09/28/2026 at 01:11 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Employees who juggle paid work with looking after an elderly or disabled relative are reporting far heavier psychological strain than their colleagues, according to new survey data that puts the spotlight on how companies support carers on their payrolls.
The finding came out of a PwC Austria poll of 1,092 working people, which showed that 63 percent of all respondents feel their mental load has grown. Among those who also carry caregiving responsibilities, that figure climbs to 83 percent.
The numbers were presented at an industry event in Salzburg, where the platform "because we care" unveiled a pair of new services aimed squarely at managers and HR professionals.
One is a preventive mental health module built around five pillars and 25 chapters. The other, branded "because we match", is designed to help place people in care and support services. Representatives from roughly 30 companies attended the launch. According to the organisers, close to 200,000 workers already have access to the platform's offerings.
Leadership as a question of attitude, not just technique
The Salzburg gathering also fed into a broader discussion about what modern management actually demands. Under the banner of New Work and transformational leadership, the role of the boss is shifting — and experts argue that method alone, meaning principles and structures, does not cover it.
What matters just as much, they say, is mindset: genuine enthusiasm for the managerial task itself, something that reaches beyond pure technical expertise. Humanity and high expectations are not treated as opposites here. Clarity, consistency and demanding standards remain essential ingredients.
Responsibility in today's workplaces is increasingly spread out, and collaboration now runs across hierarchies and company boundaries. Managers are expected to extend trust, provide orientation and act as the connective tissue between different players. While methodological skills can be taught, cultivating the right leadership attitude is seen as an ongoing process rather than a box to tick.
What the research shows
Academic work backs up the link between how a manager leads and how well a team performs. A study at MTs Negeri 3 Karanganyar involving 35 staff members found a significant positive relationship between work motivation and performance, with a t-value of 4,356.
Writing up the findings, Nada Dikurnia Raharjo, Toto Suharto and Fauzi Muharom noted that transformational leadership in particular correlates strongly with employee performance (r?=0,610), and that it also has positive effects on job satisfaction and organisational culture.
For especially taxing periods, crisis leadership coaching is gaining ground. It offers structured support for reflecting on one's own thinking under pressure — though it is not a substitute for operational measures or therapeutic treatment. Such coaching typically runs in phases before, during and after a crisis, with the aim of sharpening self-awareness and drawing lessons from the experience. Providers such as Robin Lohmann draw on frameworks including those of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.
Wellbeing moves into the sustainability playbook
Employee wellbeing is increasingly being folded into sustainable corporate governance, the idea that commercial goals and social responsibility belong together. Within the ESG framework — environment, social and governance — this lands mainly in the social pillar, covering areas such as workplace safety, diversity and fair pay.
Success is tracked through metrics like staff turnover, accident rates and the number of training hours delivered. Practitioners caution that sustainability and mental health should not be run as standalone side projects. Instead, they argue, both need to be embedded in how a company is steered — the only way to stay competitive over the long haul.
