Care vs Career: How the Silent Load Is Shaping Progression in 2026
Balancing caregiving responsibilities with a career remains a significant challenge for many working parents and carers - even in 2026. Often referred to as the “silent load,” this hidden pressure is one of the most persistent barriers to career progression and employee retention, with women continuing to be disproportionately affected. For many employees, “care vs career” can feel like a constant push and pull - a strain that has only become more deeply entrenched since the pandemic.
The 2026 Modern Families Index (MFI) raises important questions for employers about how care, confidence, and progression intersect.
Why women are most affected
The “silent load” of care is not shared equally. In fact, women are 50% more likely than men to say that having a child negatively impacted their career. The MFI continues to show that women carry a disproportionate share of both visible and invisible care responsibilities. They are still more likely to juggle dual care roles, supporting children, older relatives, or both. Alongside this, women often take on the bulk of everyday organisational tasks that keep households running. These tasks may seem small and routine, but they are frequent, largely unseen, and demand significant time, attention, and constant planning.
This uneven distribution has a gradual but significant effect on careers. When a child is unwell, a school closes unexpectedly or a parent needs support at short notice, women are still more likely to adjust their schedules first. None of this reflects capability or ambition, but the way care responsibilities are still socially organised. Over time, these adjustments influence who has the capacity to travel, stay late, take on stretch assignments or respond quickly to new opportunities.
Confidence: the missing link
Confidence plays a crucial role in shaping career trajectories, yet it is often overlooked in favour of more visible factors such as skills, qualifications, or availability. When confidence declines, employees don’t simply “hold themselves back”; they respond to the signals and conditions around them. They may begin to adjust their behaviour, accordingly, avoid seeking development opportunities, or withdraw from projects that feel harder to balance alongside caring responsibilities. These decisions can appear to reflect personal choice, but they are often driven by uncertainty about how genuinely supportive the surrounding system is.
According to the MFI 2026, confidence is declining among many working parents and carers, particularly in their trust in employers and belief in their own progression prospects. This erosion of confidence shapes how people show up at work. Employees become more cautious, more risk-averse, and less visible. Even highly capable individuals may step back, not because of a lack of ambition, but because they doubt their circumstances will be understood or supported.
Confidence often erodes quietly - long before performance dips, engagement slips, or resignations appear. By the time attrition shows up in data, many employees have already made internal decisions about stepping back.
When this confidence declines, it’s rarely because employees lack ambition. More often, it reflects uncertainty about whether support will be applied consistently, and whether progression is genuinely compatible with care.
Why flexibility isn’t the entire answer
Flexible working can ease the day-to-day logistics of caring, and many employers now offer options such as flexitime, compressed hours, staggered start and finish times, and hybrid working. These arrangements make it easier for employees to manage school runs, medical appointments, and unpredictable care needs. They provide a strong foundation, but they are not a complete solution. Without clear cultural boundaries, flexibility can quickly become “work whenever.” This often leads to increased presenteeism, with employees feeling pressured to prove constant availability simply because they are using flexible working.
The long-term risk for employers
If the silent load goes unsupported, the long‑term risks for employers steadily grow. Stretched employees often begin to step back long before anyone notices. Over time, this narrows the pool of talent ready for promotion and limits the diversity of voices shaping decisions.
Many employees also reduce their hours, move sideways into less demanding roles or gradually disengage. The loss of potential usually happens well before a formal resignation, creating hidden attrition that is harder to measure and even harder to reverse.
A narrowing leadership pipeline follows. When fewer carers, particularly women, progress into senior roles, representation drops and succession planning becomes more fragile.
What next?
Explore the full findings and more stats in the Modern Families Index 2026 to understand the wider context employers need to understand how care responsibilities are shaping confidence, progression and retention, and where well-intentioned policies may still be falling short.
