My father founded the Larkin Company in 2001, after selling the first company he co-founded that administered self-insured disability benefits. The Larkin Company also manages employee benefits, including disability and leave of absence services, and focuses on providing customized, People First solutions for each company’s specific needs. People typically go on leave for reasons that are associated with a huge life event, which means they can be emotional and often difficult situations. We are in this industry because we believe we can help make people’s experiences easier and more positive, by connecting people with the right people and building solutions that matter. This is, we believe, what differentiates our Evergreen® company from most of our competitors.

At the same time as we are driven by a desire to be People First, we are a business, and we must continue to grow and evolve to stay relevant, successful, and Evergreen. For this reason, we are always looking for ways to be innovative and take advantage of opportunities that present themselves, in as smart and creative a way as possible.

The initiative I am going to share with you today grows out of these dual perspectives of the Larkin Company: to take good care of people, and to continue to grow and evolve in our changing market.

As is often the case with the best ideas, this one came to me not because I went looking for it, but because life brought it to my door, in the form of a deeply personal experience. My wife’s father started to decline, and she faced the daunting challenge of navigating healthcare, benefits, and resources for him, a task that proved to be overwhelming and time-consuming. As I watched and helped her navigate this difficult journey, I was struck by how nearly impossible it was to manage these responsibilities while maintaining a full-time job.

From this realization came a broader recognition: many employees, especially those in the “sandwich generation,” are stretched thin, balancing care for both their children and aging parents, not to mention their responsibilities at work. These are often unplanned emergencies, such as a parent’s sudden fall, requiring immediate action and extensive navigation of healthcare and benefits systems. It is rarely possible to manage this and stay productive and focused at work, but there is often no alternative but to do as best as one can. Often, the only choice is to take a leave of absence from work which is when they call The Larkin Company. Seeing the gap in support available to employees, I wondered, could we help make this journey easier? Are there services we could provide, better than what an employer may find through an EAP, that might help the employee and either alleviate the need for a leave of absence entirely or at least reduce the amount of time needed away from work.

Through our personal experience, we had met two women who had just launched an eldercare startup called Ways & Wane. They had done several years of research and had worked hard to lay the foundation for their business. We thought, why not benefit from this hard work, and at the same time, help them get their new business off the ground? We invested in their company, becoming part owners, and set out to bring an eldercare service to life, in partnership with Ways & Wane.

Founded by two sisters, this small company already had a road map for eldercare services navigation, and our investment allowed them to scale and integrate the service into our broader offerings. Rather than building from scratch, the partnership fast-tracked the solution, capitalizing on the startup’s groundwork and building from our shared vision for high-impact, employee-first care. This partnership appealed to us in great part because the founders of Ways & Wane shared our People First orientation. We were a great match.
Like the rest of our services, the eldercare navigation service we developed together places empathy at the core of the solution. Our high-touch model ensures employees have a supportive guide who walks them through every step, from understanding Medicare options to exploring VA benefits for veterans. The service even includes personalized research, like identifying suitable care facilities and ensuring they meet the necessary standards. This matches the level of care we provide for other leave and disability benefits, so it fits right in with our larger profile of offerings.

Feedback from clients has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, for some of our larger corporate clients, eldercare support has become the top-rated employee benefit within its first year, with participants praising the relief and clarity it provides. Sometimes, employees access eldercare and are able to successfully navigate their situation without taking any leave at all. Many employees have shared that the guidance they received made their process so much easier and more efficient that it prevented them from needing to take extended time off work, which of course benefits both the employees and their employer.

Could we have opted to start our own elder care division, from the ground up? Given that we operate in an adjacent industry, of course we could have. But it would have taken time. The decision to partner with Ways & Wane saved us so much time and money that it was an easy decision to make, particularly given that we are so values-aligned with the co-founders. At this point, Ways & Wane has expanded to cover children as well. So, the solution is evolving into a full family care package. We have a similar collaboration with Navvisa, a startup specializing in cancer care navigation, which grew out of the same strategy: identify critical employee needs and invest in solutions that bring immediate value. Mental health is another area we see opportunities in the near future.

Despite the advantages of the partnership and the relative speed with which we were able to put this initiative into action, it has not been perfect. Our eldercare service has seen slower-than-anticipated adoption—partly due to market conditions and company cost-saving measures. However, the feedback has been so consistently positive that we are optimistic. Given the demographic realities of the country, this is a need that is not likely to abate any time soon, and as it becomes adopted by more companies and normalized, we expect it will continue to grow. Recall that not much more than a decade ago, parental benefits were not mainstream. I was involved in that work at the time, and it took a while for that to get going and for people to see the value of it. But today it’s more or less standard; I think the eldercare piece is following the same trajectory.

From the employer side, it’s a classic win-win. By reducing or even eliminating the need for leave altogether, this service saves companies money on backfilling positions and maintaining productivity. Employees feel supported, and employers see the financial benefits. I can’t imagine that this is going to do anything but continue to grow, especially as people are living longer and longer lives.

To me, this initiative is all about balancing empathy with strategic investment. By listening to the real, often emotional needs of employees and finding agile ways to address them, we are finding more ways we can create meaningful support systems that benefit everyone involved. Taking good care of people isn’t just good ethics—it’s good business.