How employers can support caregivers who are also short on food

When caregiving and food insecurity show up in the same household

If you manage people, you may be seeing a worker who is trying to do two hard things at once: care for someone else and keep food on the table. That combination is not rare.

According to Work Conditions and Family Food Insecurity Among Adults Ages 18–64: United States, 2021, family food insecurity was more common among adults who were working caregivers than among adults who were not caregivers. The same source says food insecurity was also linked with several work conditions, including part-time work, nonstandard schedules, and low wages. That matters because it means the problem is not just personal stress or bad budgeting. Work can make it harder to buy, cook, and keep food in the house.

Why some employers start with schedule changes

One common response is to make work easier to predict. Caregivers need time to help with appointments, school pickups, rides, meals, and the day-to-day work of looking after another person. Flexible schedules, leave, and time off are the first tools many employers reach for.

According to Working While Caregiving in 2025, caregivers report that employers are increasingly offering workplace flexibilities and policies to help them balance work and home. The same source notes that many states now have paid leave laws.

This approach has a clear strength: it gives caregivers time. But time alone does not put food in the fridge. A worker can have leave and still face an empty pantry if wages are low or pay is irregular. Schedule flexibility helps most when the main problem is getting enough time to care. It helps less when the worker also has a food bill they cannot cover.

Why food help needs to sit next to caregiver help

Another common response is to add food support at work. That can mean a meal benefit, grocery help, or referrals to outside food programs.

This approach fits the problem the research points to: work conditions and food insecurity show up together. According to Work Conditions and Family Food Insecurity Among Adults Ages 18–64: United States, 2021, food insecurity was more common among adults with lower wages and less stable schedules. If an employer only offers a caregiving perk and leaves food access alone, it misses part of what is going wrong.

The trade-off is that food help can be useful right away, but it does not fix the reasons a worker is struggling to buy food in the first place. A grocery card or free meal can help this week. It will not always help next month if the worker still has unpredictable hours or pay that does not stretch far enough.

Why the best answer is often a mix

The sources point in the same direction: no single fix covers both problems.

Caregivers need time. Food-insecure workers need access to food. When someone is both, the employer has to think about both at once.

That is where teams often split into two camps. Some focus on flexibility first because it is easier to add a policy than to redesign a benefit. Others focus on food aid first because it is tangible and fast. Each choice leaves a gap. Flexibility without food support can still leave a worker hungry. Food support without flexibility can still leave a worker unable to use it, because they cannot get to the store, cannot cook on time, or are too stretched to plan ahead.

The evidence here is not enough to say one model always works better than the other. It does show that employers should avoid treating caregiving and food insecurity as separate issues.

What to look for before you choose a program

A good policy choice starts with the problem you are trying to solve.

If workers are missing time for care, add flexibility where the job allows it. If workers are struggling to afford meals, add direct food support, not just advice. If both are true, build a package that covers both.

The research also suggests paying attention to work conditions, not only benefits. According to Work Conditions and Family Food Insecurity Among Adults Ages 18–64: United States, 2021, food insecurity was tied to part-time work, nonstandard schedules, and low wages. That means an employer should ask a few plain questions before picking a fix:

• Can people know their schedule far enough ahead to plan meals and care?
• Can they trade shifts or adjust hours without penalty?
• Do they have a way to get food that fits their hours and pay?

If the answer to one of those is no, the program should address that gap directly.

What this means for employers now

A caregiver who is also food insecure is carrying a work problem and a household problem at the same time. Employers can help, but only if they stop treating one as a benefits issue and the other as a personal issue.

Start with the workers most likely to be exposed to both risks: people with low wages, part-time hours, or nonstandard schedules, according to Work Conditions and Family Food Insecurity Among Adults Ages 18–64: United States, 2021. Pair time-based support with food-based support. Keep the policy simple enough that people can use it when they are already stretched.

If your team is trying to solve this for families outside work too, an AI meal planner like Platter may fit into the food side of the problem. But the first decision for employers is not about software. It is about whether the support you offer matches the way caregiving and food insecurity actually overlap.