A few months ago we covered one aspect of longevity — whether the riskof outliving your resources is greater than the risk of dying tooyoung. Increased longevity is also changing the social and economicpressure many in the workforce feel, and as benefit professionalswe need to consider how we can help. I like to refer to this issueas the sandwich and the barbell because they are two aspects oflongevity, putting pressure on both employees and employers.

Let's start with pressure on employees in the sandwichgeneration. They are sandwiched between parents and grandparentswho need assistance with some part of their daily livingactivities, and children who are dependent on them. These employeeshave to manage their work responsibilities and their family life ina delicate balance. How do they do a good job at work and answerincreasingly challenging family needs?

Now, let's consider the barbell of employees. For many years,baby boomers were the largest working generation in the workplace.Today, we are told that millennials have surpassed boomers and nowrepresent the largest block of workers. Employers are faced withthe retirement of experienced boomers taking a great deal ofcollective wisdom with them. Millennials are replacing theseboomers, but need training and guidance.

And at the middle of the barbell, many times, sit the employeesin the sandwich generation. They are the people in workplaceleadership roles — formal and informal. They need to make up forthe lost experience of retiring boomers as well as train anddevelop the millennials coming into their areas. They are caughtbetween pressures at home and at work. Business managers are caughtwith keeping the business running while providing a work-lifebalance.

The story of a friend illustrates the issues these employeesface. She is a professional in her 40s, living in Dallas with herhusband and two pre-college teenagers. She normally faces quite abit of pressure just balancing her job responsibilities and thedemands of the teens as they face college.

Recently, her husband developed a medical condition, so he isundergoing treatment and is unable towork. Meanwhile, her retired parents live in Omaha.Her father is trying to recover from complications of heart surgeryand her mother is trying to be a caregiver while facing age-relatedissues of her own. My friend has been shuttling to Omaha to helpwith her father, while at home she's balancing the teenagers'needs, her husband's needs, and her work obligations. She's in thesandwich at home, and the barbell at work.

As benefit advisors, helping employees like my friend remainproductive even when facing stress is an opportunity. Make sureyour employer customers provide employees a well-positionedEmployee Assistance Program(EAP). Today's EAPs provide a full range of servicesthat are designed to help relieve stress. They provide advisory andeducational resources on a wide range of topics ranging from griefcounseling, financial education, dealing with eldercare issues,family relationships, career issues, and workplace and domesticviolence.

EAPs can assist employers by helping employees be moreproductive, and diminishing “presenteeism” as well as absenteeismdue to the stresses of life. EAPs help the key people sitting inthe middle of the workplace — in the generation crunched by thesandwich and the barbell.