Many healthcare, social care and voluntary agency employees are carers at work and at home, a phenomenon referred to as double-duty caregiving. Using meta-ethnography, this article provides a synthesis of qualitative research by analysing the original words of the interviewees. A linguistic and metaphoric overview provides a deeper, richer picture of the experience of double-duty caring, revealing the sacrifices associated with being a carer at home while employed in a healthcare system, and the paradoxical effects of holding a position in both worlds simultaneously.