Defining Your Caregiving Responsibilities to Create Your Caregiving Value
On a consistent basis, we incorrectly define your caregiving role which is one of the reasons your caregiving value is under-valued.
If they don’t understand what you do, they don’t get the value you bring.
That thought stayed with me as I developed our interactive tool that calculates your value. I pictured you (and myself) and your day. I came up with the initial list of responsibilities, gave it a day, added more, gave it a day, added more.
I wanted to get it right.
If I’m right, then you know your calculated value truly represents your experience.
Since last week, 156 individuals used the tool to find their value. Two data points I’ll highlight this week:
75.6% of family caregivers calculated their value at $55 per hour, which is the highest professional market rate, equivalent to a care systems integrator coordinating between all medical, legal, financial and care systems.
Family caregivers selected 30.5 care types on average out of 45 available.
In March, AARP released its report, “Valuing the Invaluable 2026” and calculated your value at $20.41, which is the hourly rate of a home health aide.
But your work isn’t the equivalent of a home health aide. It’s comparable to a care systems integrator.
So often, your work is defined as doing the work of a home health aide. But you’re not. We have one more data point to prove your work and the work of a home health aide are not the same.
Two respondents selected only one care type — personal care (bathing, dressing) — at 20 hours per week. That's the signature of a professional shift, not a family caregiving experience.
Non-reimbursed family caregivers are experts in advocating, communicating, deciding, managing, planning, providing and sustaining.
Going forward, we can show the data that proves our value and correctly reflects our reality. We may provide hands-on care at times. We always do the work of a CEO.
I share more about our tool, below, and how it changes the conversation we have about what we manage.
This is awesome. Thanks for giving us the words!