Editor’s note: Keri Hughes is market research manager, Voya Financial, Connecticut. 

As client-side researchers, we are often provided with numerous e-mails and data sources from third-party research suppliers. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the amount of information coming our way increased tenfold. For the most part, these resources focused primarily on how the general consumer is fairing, or in some cases, differences by age, gender, ethnicity and so on. While these still remain significant demographics to consider and many Americans have been impacted in various ways (notably younger and ethnically diverse consumers), there is another important group that is often overlooked: the disabilities and special needs community. At Voya, we immediately saw this gap and identified the need to pivot away from what was already publicly available information.

While we continue to remain interested in other sub-groups, the disabilities and special needs community is of particular interest to Voya given our support for individuals with special needs and their caregivers through our Voya Cares® program, the intersection between our culture and our business expertise. Voya is committed to being a leader in making a positive difference in the lives of people with disabilities and special needs and given the current lack of COVID-19-related data, there was an opportunity to learn more about how this group has been impacted.

Caregivers were already struggling financially pre-COVID-19

If you look at the caregiver population alone, more than one in five Americans (21%) are caregivers, having provided care to an adult or child with special needs in the past year, and of those, 61% are also working.1 Before COVID, almost half of this group already reported that they are living paycheck to paycheck and are barely getting by financially (compared to three-in-10 gen pop employees).2 Additionally, eight-in-10 caregiver employees report experiencing added stress and anxiety as a result of their caregiving responsibilities, without the added challenges presented by COVID.2 Knowing these numbers raised some particular concerns amid widespread layoffs, furloughs and salary cuts resulting from the pandemic which lead us to launch proprietary research among the disabilities and special needs community. The goal of this research was to further understand the challenges experienced by this group and uncover potential “new news” with a focus on the pandemic in order to continue to provide the support and services needed during this unprecedented time. 

Results show that the special needs community has been particularly hard-hit by the impacts of COVID-193:

  • Nearly half of those in the disabilities and special needs community report experiencing increased levels of anxiety (44%), feelings of isolation/loneliness (44%), loss of daily structure (42%) and disruption in care or limited access to health care/specialty care (40%). 
  • About one-third have experienced limited access to healthcare and other specialty care (33%) as well as decreased physical or emotional health of self and/or family (28%). 
  • One-in-five report increased difficulty meeting the financial needs related to providing/needing special care for self/family (21%).
  • One-in-five have experienced a lack of resources/support at the federal, state, or local level.
  • Almost four-in-10 say COVID-19 has had a severe impact on their daily life (vs. one-quarter of those who are not part of the disabilities and special needs community).
  • One-third of those in the special needs community have been impacted by job loss/had hours cut back (vs. one-quarter of those who are not part of the disabilities and special needs community).

Caregiver employees want and need support

These data points illustrate that caregivers, who are already challenged without the impacts of COVID, are experiencing even more emotional and financial concerns as a result of the pandemic that must be considered as we work to better serve our clients’ employees and continue to draw attention to the “caregiver crisis” in America. Previous Voya research has also shown that caregivers want and need more support from their employers with four-in-five believing that their company could be doing more to support their needs and nine-in-10 feeling that they lack company support in some way.2 That said, more than one-third of HR decision makers lacked confidence pre-COVID that their company was up to date on the resources and information needed to provide ample support for employees who are caregivers.2 We now know that, while there were already hurdles to overcome, the challenges experienced by caregiver employees have only become more amplified by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding these challenges is key so that Voya can continue to be an advocate for the disabilities and special needs community and provide the resources and/or support needed for caregivers to ultimately succeed in achieving their short- and long-term financial goals.  

Researchers are in the position to help business clients succeed 

At Voya, the Voya Cares program is critical to our business support and there were questions that we needed answered in order to continue to support these efforts to make a positive difference in the lives of individuals with special needs and disabilities, along with their families and caregivers during this challenging time. 

What is important to you and your business right now? And, how can you ask the right questions to deliver powerful insights that will be useful to your organization and the people it serves? Prior to launching research, start by asking yourself some key questions: 

  1. What is the research goal/objective? What do you want to know? What do you already know (to build off of)?
  2. What are the most important aspects of this goal? Are you being specific enough to get the answers you need?
  3. What is the right approach/methodology to accomplish your goal? Will a simple survey work, or do you need to get more in-depth with qualitative research? Or both?
  4. Who is the right research firm to work with – considering factors such as target audience, research capabilities, timing, cost, etc.? 
  5. What will you do with the results? How will you/your business partners use the results?

Answering these questions before conducting a research study will help set you up for success and position you as a valuable resource for your business partners, while also ensuring that you are getting the most mileage out of the research insights. By identifying a need for our business clients (as well as within the industry), this research has not only been well regarded internally by key stakeholders, but has also been featured in several top-tier media publications. 

In the world of research, we must continue to search for meaningful lines of questioning in order to uncover “new news” so we can continue to have an impact on the world at large. This includes diverse populations of consumers who are often overlooked, such as the disabilities and special needs community. During these unprecedented times, asking the right research questions is more important than ever, as consumer attitudes are changing every single day.  


References: 

1Caregiving in the U.S.: 2020 Report. AARP and National Alliance for Caregivers. May 2020.

2“For the Benefit of All: How Organizations Win When They Recognize and Support Caregivers and Employees with Disabilities,” Voya Financial. May 2019. voyacares.com/forthebenefitofall.

3Caregiving and Special Needs in the Time of COVID-19: Voya Financial, AYTM COVID-19 Consumer Tracker conducted via online survey, June 2020.

This information is provided by Voya for your education only. Neither Voya nor its representatives offer tax or legal advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor before making a tax-related investment/insurance decision.

Products and services offered through the Voya ® family of companies.

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