Addressing the challenge of engaging in paid work while undertaking unpaid caring: insights for improving employment inclusion of young carers
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore challenges and opportunities associated with young carers' employment in Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a multi-stakeholder approach, this study captures the reflections of stakeholders (n = 8) and young carers (n = 10) about opportunities for, and experiences of, paid employment for young carers.
Findings
Despite many organisations internationally increasingly pushing diversity agendas and suggesting a commitment to equal opportunity experiences, this study found that young carers' work opportunities are often disrupted by their caring role. For young carers to be successful in their careers, organisations need to provide further workplace flexibility, and other support is required to attract and retain young carers into organisations and harness their transferrable skills for meaningful careers.
Practical implications
The paper highlights important implications for human resource management practitioners given the need to maximise the participation of young carers as workers, with benefits for young carers themselves, employers and society.
Originality/value
The research adds to the human resource management and work–family conflict literature in examining young carers through drawing on Conservation of Resources theory to highlight resources invested in caring leads to loss of educational and work experience resources. This leads to loss cycles and spirals, which can potentially continue across a lifetime, further contributing to disadvantage and lack of workplace and societal inclusion for this group of young people.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Arafmi Ltd and Little Dreamers engaged with Griffith University to undertake a research project from which this article was developed. The authors gratefully acknowledge their support to undertake this research. The authors acknowledge suggestions for research design and data collection provided by the project advisory board, namely, Irene Clelland (Arafmi Ltd), Alex Tyson (Arafmi Ltd at the time of the project), Madeleine Buchner (Little Dreamers), Cassie Lieschke (Little Dreamers at the time of the project), Professor Melanie Zimmer-Gembeck (Griffith University) and Abi Cooper (young carer). The authors acknowledge Sarah Birtwistle for assistance with the literature review.
An earlier version of some sections of this paper were included in an industry research report but the research has been theorised and substantively developed for this paper.
Hutchings and Radford contributed as first authors. The remaining author order reflects the level of contribution to developing the paper (in descending order).
Citation
Hutchings, K., Radford, K., Spencer, N., Harris, N., McMillan, S., Slattery, M., Wheeler, A. and Roche, E. (2023), "Addressing the challenge of engaging in paid work while undertaking unpaid caring: insights for improving employment inclusion of young carers", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-12-2022-0351
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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