Availability of caregiver-friendly workplace policies (CFWPs): an updated international scoping review protocol

Background: This scoping review will provide an update on the availability of caregiver-friendly workplace policies (CFWPs) internationally. As the global population continues to age, there is a growing demand for unpaid care. Many individuals providing unpaid care remain in the workforce, increasing the number of carer-employees (CEs). The goal of this review is to determine how workplaces are supporting the growing number of CEs via CFWPs compared with 5 years ago, while identifying and prioritising actions that will improve workplace support for CEs. It is expected that this scoping review will provide: valuable insights on how broader social and cultural issues shape CFWPs; identification of leading workplaces that provide CFWPs, as well as; labour sectors that require improvement. Comparative analysis between the previous published scoping reviews will allow for further conclusions with respect to the changing landscape of CFWPs over time. Methods: This scoping review will be conducted with methodological guidance from the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Reviewers Manual, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews guidelines and checklist and the scoping review protocol checklist by JBI. As recommended by the JBI, this scoping review uses the Population/Context/Concept framework to identify main concepts and appropriate inclusionary/exclusionary criteria. This review will include literature (peer-reviewed and grey) published between 1 May 2019 and 31 May 2023, in the English language, that discuss the provision of unpaid care to older adults; workplaces deemed caregiver and/or family friendly related to CFWPs and explicit identification of the workplace/organisation by name. Results will be communicated via tables, diagrams and content analysis. Ethics approval and dissemination: Ethics approval for this study is not applicable. The results of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication and conferences.