Healthing – Opinion: Working caregivers need support and protection now more than ever

As Canadians across the country enjoy Labour Day weekend – the last long weekend of the summer – current public conversations around employee burnout, quiet quitting and overt attempts to block workers’ rights to unionize remind us that there is still much progress to be made to protect workers’ rights and support elusive work-life balance.

We know that the time away from work is critical to our mental health and wellbeing as well as to our overall productivity. But for one in three Canadian workers, approximately six million people, life after work responsibilities shifts to other work – that of providing care to family or friends who are ill, have disabilities, or are aging.  Often unseen. Always unpaid.