The Care squeeze: A system under pressure and a leadership wake-up call

The numbers are staggering: 1.5 million Australians — mostly women — are now simultaneously caring for children and ageing parents.

Dubbed the sandwich generation, these carers are being quietly crushed by a system that was never designed to support dual-dependency care. It’s a national issue with deeply personal consequences — and it should be setting off alarm bells for leaders across the aged care, health, policy, and business sectors.

The ABC’s recent series The Care Squeeze is bringing this invisible crisis into the spotlight, showing just how much unpaid family care props up Australia’s under-pressure care systems. This isn’t just a domestic dilemma; it’s a structural fault line running through the heart of our care economy.

The hidden impact on workforce participation

As leaders in aged care and health, we frequently discuss workforce shortages. But how often do we zoom out and ask why so many capable, experienced people — particularly women — are quietly stepping back or dropping out of the workforce altogether?

It’s not always burnout from the job. Often, it’s burnout from everything else.

Many in this cohort are juggling full-time work, school drop-offs, navigating aged care, attending medical appointments, and managing chronic conditions — all before 10 am. 

As a result, they are:

• Declining promotions or leadership roles
• Reducing hours or leaving work entirely
• Sacrificing superannuation and long-term financial security

If we don’t support this group better, we’re not only failing carers, but we’re also shrinking our future leadership talent pipeline.

Why this is a systemic issue, not a personal one

The care squeeze is not the result of poor time management or individual weakness. It’s the byproduct of a policy landscape where aged care, childcare and workforce participation operate in silos.

The Care Squeeze makes clear we need coordinated, integrated policy thinking, backed by employer flexibility and better community infrastructure. Think:

• Paid universal carer leave
• Flexible work that goes beyond lip service
  
• Culturally appropriate care navigation for diverse families
• Aged care that supports family-inclusive roles, not assumes them

The reality? If we don’t address these gaps, the costs will hit aged care systems first: more delayed discharges, more burnt-out informal carers, and ultimately, less public trust.

Leadership must lead the way

For executive and sector leaders, this is a defining moment. The care squeeze presents not only a risk but an opportunity to reimagine how our sectors can lead in solving it.

Could aged care providers offer on-site care navigation for family carers? Could tech-enabled respite be mainstreamed? Could workforce strategies finally count unpaid care as real, valuable experience?

Most importantly, can we shift from seeing care as a burden, to seeing it as a system we all have a stake in strengthening?

The 1.5 million Australians carrying this load aren’t asking for applause. They’re asking for systems that don’t force them to choose between being a good parent, a good child, and a good employee.