Carers Week Special (Part 2): Intersectional nuances, wellbeing and creating carer-friendly workplaces, with Rachel Pears and Zahra Lakhan-Bunbury

Welcome to The Work Couch, the podcast where we discuss all things employment.

This year's Carers week theme is "caring about equality" and highlights the inequalities faced by unpaid carers, including a greater risk of poverty, social isolation, and poor mental and physical health. Sadly, and far too often, carers of all ages are missing out on opportunities in their education, careers or personal lives just because of their caring role.

To explore how employers play a critical role in removing these barriers, host Ellie Gelder is joined by two passionate advocates for carers: RPC's own Rachel Pears and Zahra Lakhan-Bunbury from Carers UK.

Rachel is associate director for responsible business and employment counsel at RPC, and is a carer herself. Last year, she spearheaded RPC's collaboration with Carers UK, which culminated in the Mind the Caring Gap report, which garnered widespread press attention.

Zahra, who is an account manager at Employers for Carers, the workplace arm of Carers UK, works with leading organisations including government departments, retailers and local authorities to identify and share best practice for supporting carers in the workplace. 

In part 2 of this series, Rachel and Zahra discuss:

• Identifying as a carer and why some people don't see themselves as carers;
• Distinguishing between different types of care and the unique challenges;
• Caring responsibilities in the legal sector and some stark statistics;
• The impact caring can have on the carer's physical and mental wellbeing; and
• Key ingredients to create carer-friendly workplaces.

Listen to Part 1: Lived experiences, the law and the role of employers.

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All information is correct at the time of recording. The Work Couch is not a substitute for legal advice.

References

1. Mind the caring gap: Exploring the impact of caring responsibilities in the legal sector (Report by RPC, LawCare and Next 100 Years, June 2024)