What workplaces get wrong about caregivers who don’t have enough food

Food insecurity at work is usually treated like a home problem

If someone is having trouble paying for food, it’s easy to assume that belongs outside work. But that guess misses what happens when work and caregiving collide.

According to LSU Research Bites, a common belief is that food insecurity “isn’t a workplace concern.” Their researchers tested that idea by surveying hundreds of employees across industries about workplace and food insecurity experiences, and by asking co-workers to rate their performance. They found that food insecurity has real costs to businesses because it affects employee performance.

That matters because people do not leave their caregiving responsibilities at the door. If work makes it harder to buy, prep, or eat food, the problem shows up at work too.

The wrong fix is to treat every caregiver the same

A lot of workplace support is built for an average employee with a normal schedule and no extra care burden. That misses the point.

Caregivers are often managing someone else’s appointments, decisions, medicines, and transport on top of their job. Children’s Hospital Association says parents and caregivers are part of the care team, and that they stay at the bedside, manage medications, ask questions, and make decisions. When that care happens during a child’s hospital stay, food becomes part of the burden too.

The mistake is assuming one general benefit will cover all of that. A caregiver who can keep working may still miss meals, spend more on food away from home, or have no time to shop and cook. A benefit that ignores those realities will miss the people who need it most.

Food insecurity can show up even when home is usually stable

Another common mistake is to look only at whether a family has food insecurity at home. For caregivers, that can hide the real problem.

According to Wake Forest University School of Medicine research reported by EurekAlert!, caregivers of children hospitalized for cancer and blood disorders may experience food insecurity during their child’s stay even if they don’t face that issue at home. The report says this is an overlooked issue called “inpatient food insecurity,” when families don’t have enough to eat while their child is in the hospital because of hardships like missed work or extra expenses.

That distinction matters. If a family looks fine on paper, employers, hospitals, and managers can miss what is happening during a short but expensive stretch of time. The right question is not only, “Does this family usually have enough food?” It is also, “What happens to food access when care demands spike?”

Mealtime problems are part of the care problem

Food support for caregivers is often handled like a nice extra. The sources here point to something more basic: food access can affect how care gets done.

Children’s Hospital Association says that at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital at Oregon Health & Science University, a survey showed nearly two-thirds of caregivers were cutting back or skipping meals during their child’s stay. It also says that at La Rabida Children’s Hospital in Chicago, outpatient visits showed a related challenge.

That is not just about comfort. If a caregiver is skipping meals, they have one more thing to manage while making care decisions and handling the rest of the day. In the hospital, that can mean the family’s food situation is part of the care environment, not separate from it.

What people should stop doing

The biggest mistake is acting like food insecurity is only about personal budgeting or home life.

LSU’s study shows that food insecurity has workplace effects. Wake Forest’s research shows it can appear during a child’s hospital stay even when it is not a regular problem at home. Children’s Hospital Association shows caregivers are often eating less while they care.

So the wrong response is to wait until someone brings up a crisis, then hand them a generic resource list and move on. That treats a recurring access problem like a one-time exception.

What to stop doing:

• Don’t assume a caregiver’s food needs are the same as everyone else’s.
• Don’t ask only whether they have enough food at home.
• Don’t treat missed meals during care as a personal issue with no work consequences.
• Don’t build support around a schedule that ignores hospital time, late nights, or extra expenses.

What to do instead

Start by looking at the moments when caregiving changes a person’s access to food.

For employers, that means paying attention to whether work schedules, time away from work, and extra expenses are making it harder for caregivers to eat. For hospitals and care teams, it means noticing that families may need help while a child is admitted, not only after discharge. For managers, it means understanding that a caregiver’s food problem can show up as lower performance because the strain is already there.

The sources point to a simple shift: ask about food needs in the middle of caregiving, not only in the abstract. Support has to fit the time when the strain happens.

If you’re building something for busy families, that same rule applies. Tools like Platter can help with meal planning, but the bigger point is to make food easier to manage at the exact moment caregiving makes it hardest.

What to decide differently

If you work with caregivers, don’t treat food insecurity as a side issue or a home issue. Treat it as part of the care load and part of the work load.

The next step is not more general advice about eating better or planning ahead. It is deciding where caregivers are getting stuck now, and changing support around those moments.