First, a few facts. If you’re thinking of caregiving as “women’s work,” or assuming that most unpaid caregivers are not really out in the professional work world, you need to think again. Almost ¾ of all US workers report some kind of caregiving responsibilities and 80% of them report not doing their best at work due to caregiving responsibilities. Moreover, 40% of caregivers are men -and demographic trends are that caregivers are getting younger while care recipients are living longer. This means that caregiving affects not only the lives of caregivers and recipients but also employers, whose workers are trying to strike a balance between work and life responsibilities.

And a new report from the Harvard Business School underscores the impact that this caregiving has on both workers and employers. The report makes clear that employee caregiving is causing employees to be less productive, less likely to advance in their careers and to even leave jobs in search of more flexible work environments. Not only is this stressful for employees but it’s costly for employers who lose their talented workforce in a tight labor market. It also creates a stressful work environment that penalizes hard-working employees. In essence, the report calls on companies to develop supportive benefits for employee caregivers and to create a culture of care in the work environment. Find out more about the report and the recommendations here.

You should also know that there are existing and developing supports for employees who shoulder caregiving responsibilities. A new web-based support system for millennial caregivers is now developing at The Caregivers Collective. And Liz O’Donnell, the founder of Working Daughter, has a new book coming out to guide working women who are caregiving for aging parents. Liz also recently published an opinion piece asking that family leave policies recognize the children of aging parents alongside parents of newborns.

Most of us are going to become familiar with the role of family caregiving in our lifetimes. It behooves our employers, as well as our policymakers, to create supportive environments to help us all.