Prudential Expands Financial Wellness Offering to Include Caregiving Resources

Prudential says recent studies have shown more than 15% of American workers are providing ongoing care for a chronically ill, disabled or elderly person, and one in four women are considering downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce because of child care and other challenges due to COVID-19.

The firm says the responsibilities these caregivers bear have been heightened during the pandemic, accelerating mental health and workplace productivity issues.

As a result, Prudential is partnering with Wellthy, a provider in the caregiving space, to incorporate its suite of digital and concierge caregiving services into Prudential’s financial wellness offering.

Wellthy’s digital caregiving tools—such as educational content, digital care plan creation, storage of digital caregiving documents, access to a shared calendar to track appointments and the ability to establish a group caregiving discussion—will all be included in Prudential’s financial wellness offering.  It will also include Wellthy’s concierge services that provide hands-on support to help relieve caregivers of their burden and save them hours every week.

Employers will have the option to pay or enable their employees to pay for a dedicated care coordinator to help individuals manage the logistical and administrative tasks of caring for loved ones. This includes sourcing and vetting in-home aides and child care providers, evaluating insurance coverage for home safety modifications, setting up meal delivery services, identifying in-network physical therapy providers, arranging transportation to and from appointments, setting up calendars for appointment management, assisting with financial claims and billing support, and researching local elder care attorneys who specialize in estate planning.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has blurred the lines between work and home,” says Judy Dougherty, head of enterprise capabilities at Prudential Financial. “It has pushed many employees into multiple and sometimes new caregiving roles that impact their ability to balance work, home and the needs of their loved ones. This balancing act is creating additional pressure on an already challenged caregiving system. The benefits of Wellthy’s service are lower stress and improved productivity by assisting with some administrative and logistical tasks associated with caregiving.”