4 million French people juggle between helping a loved one and their career. With the key to a lot of stress, guilt, fatigue… However, it is possible to reconcile everything without exhausting yourself. Our advice to achieve this.

Reconciling active life and helping your loved one is therefore a major challenge for all these people. How do you take care of your parents, grow professionally, and beyond  that find the right balance between care, work and family life  ? Response elements.

According to the survey conducted by our partner France Alzheimer, less than one person in two (48%) informed their immediate superior of their situation.

The balance between private life and professional life  is particularly disturbed during  a career as a caregiver . Nevertheless, it should be noted that this problem is one of the  factors (causes) of psychosocial risks (PSR)   and is therefore a subject  within the company . Today many are those who set up, in the form  of psychosocial support , systems to support employees in these difficult moments of life. But most often  these devices  are not known. Simply talking about the situation to a manager , an HR manager, or even the occupational doctor is the essential step. to find solutions and support . In addition, this will avoid misunderstandings and misunderstandings of all kinds.

How to bring up the subject?

Talking about it to your loved ones is a first step: they will have the perspective that you may no longer have in this necessarily heavy context. And they can be of good advice. The second step? For example, have recourse to  one of the many possibilities of  psychological support. The help of a professional or quite simply a discussion group will allow you to overcome your blockages in a favorable context.

Caregivers are still poorly informed about their rights… yet they have some! Since March 2016, the Law on the adaptation of society to aging (LASV) has established  a right to respite for essential family caregivers .  In particular, it can give you rights to  leave and specific assistance  to deal with your constraints as caregivers.

Manage your time better

Time is the second factor that poses a problem for caregivers in professional activity. Caregivers can devote  several hours a day to supporting their vulnerable loved ones.  It is far from negligible. And that inevitably encroaches on their profession.

Organizing a medical appointment, finding out about assistance, carrying out an administrative procedure… cannot be done outside working hours. So right during work time. What solutions to reconcile everything?

What arguments to put forward?

An overwhelming majority (96%) of carers in professional activity want to continue to exercise their work. For financial reasons, of course (87% of responses), because helping a loved one is expensive… But that’s not all:  nearly one caregiver in two finds that their job helps them get out of everyday life  (47%) and is a source fulfillment (40%). Recalling your motivation is therefore the first argument to put forward to your interlocutors.

Finally, the third major source of concern for active caregivers goes far beyond the strict professional framework: between the time spent helping a loved one, and the time devoted to doing their job well… there is very little left over for their family and friends. And even less for yourself. 85% of carers questioned by France Alzheimer in fact devote  less time than before to their social life and their leisure activities , 70% to other members of their family.

What solutions to take a step back?

However, taking good care of a loved one begins with being attentive to one’s own physical and psychological health. Taking breaks in one’s life as a caregiver is not a “betrayal”:  it is a necessity to be efficient at work, and available in one’s life as a caregiver.