NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than 15% of American workers report providing ongoing care for a chronically ill, disabled or elderly person, and 1 in 4 women are considering downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce because of child care and other challenges due to COVID-19. The responsibilities these caregivers bear has been heightened during the pandemic, accelerating mental health and workplace productivity issues.
Prudential1 (NYSE: PRU) is partnering with Wellthy, a leading provider in the caregiving space, to incorporate Wellthy’s suite of digital and concierge caregiving services into Prudential’s financial wellness offering. These services will help employers relieve the caregiving burden impacting their employees.
The new partnership will enable Prudential to offer no-cost access to Wellthy’s digital caregiving tools, such as educational content, digital care plan creation, storage of digital caregiving documents (e.g., prescriptions, medical records, wills, etc.), access to a shared calendar to track appointments, and the ability to establish a group caregiving discussion.
Wellthy’s caregiving services complement employee assistance programs by providing individuals with a digital platform to organize and manage caregiving activities, along with the option of concierge services that provide hands-on support to help relieve their caregiving burden and save them hours every week.
For example, employers will have the option to pay or enable their employees to pay for a dedicated Care Coordinator to help individuals manage the logistical and administrative tasks of caring for loved ones on a family’s behalf, including:
- Sourcing and vetting in-home aides and child care providers.
- Evaluating insurance coverage for home safety modifications.
- Setting up meal delivery services.
- Identifying in-network physical therapy providers.
- Arranging transportation to/from appointments.
- Setting up calendars for appointment management.
- Assisting with financial claims and billing support (e.g., liaising between medical providers, hospital and Medicare).
- Researching local elder care attorneys specialized in estate planning.
Prudential will also partner with employers to provide referrals to employees during critical moments that matter (e.g., leave of absence, birth of a new child, illness of elderly relatives) to optimize employee usage of Wellthy’s caregiving resources.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has blurred the lines between work and home. It has pushed many employees into multiple and sometimes new caregiving roles that impact their ability to balance work, home and the needs of their loved ones. This balancing act is creating additional pressure on an already challenged caregiving system,” said Judy Dougherty, head of Enterprise Capabilities at Prudential Financial. “The benefits of Wellthy’s service are lower stress and improved productivity by assisting with some administrative and logistical tasks associated with caregiving, and in some cases reduced income disruption associated with unpaid leave. The addition of Wellthy to our portfolio is another way we are helping people achieve and maintain financial wellness.”
For employers, the benefits of investing in caregiver support are also clear. Caregiving costs employers several thousand dollars per caregiving employee per year—on lost productivity, absences, and talent retention.
“Well before the pandemic, caregiving was a serious challenge for so many Americans and we’ve remained steadfast in our commitment to lift the burden off caregivers,” said Lindsay Jurist-Rosner, CEO of Wellthy. “Our model is built on transforming family care through personalized care support that caregivers can control from an online dashboard, and we are pleased that more and more employers are seeing the value of providing their workforce with access to caregiving support.”
Learn more about Prudential Financial Wellness
About Prudential Financial, Inc.
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial wellness leader and premier active global investment manager with more than $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of Dec. 31, 2020, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential’s diverse and talented employees help to make lives better by creating financial opportunity for more people. Prudential’s iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit news.prudential.com.
About Wellthy
Wellthy is a caregiving concierge service for families with chronic, complex and ongoing care needs. Wellthy offers a robust caregiving platform and personalized support to help families tackle the logistical and administrative tasks of caring for the ones they love, including themselves. For more information, please visit wellthy.com.
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1 Financial wellness content, tools and solutions are provided through Prudential Workplace Solutions Group Services, LLC (“PWSGS”). PWSGS is a subsidiary of Prudential Financial, Inc. PWSGS is not a licensed insurance company, does not provide insurance products or services, and does not provide investment or other advice. Access to Wellthy Caregiving Services is separate from and is not contingent upon participation in a Prudential Group or Retirement service or contract.
