Are Your Employees Food Insecure?

In a recent article in Health Affairs, a study was conducted to determine which segments of the health care workforce have the greatest risk of food insecurity. The researchers of the study defined insecurity as the lack of access to an adequate supply of nutritious food associated with poor health outcomes.   

Three categories of occupational classes were examined including: health diagnosing and treating practitioners (57.4%); health technologists (22.1%) and health care support workers (20.5%).  The latter group was comprised of nurse’s aides, psychiatric aides, home health aides and rehabilitation assistants using data from the 2013-2018 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).  

Not surprisingly, the highest rate of food insecurity was seen among those working in nursing and residential care facilities, however, what was surprising was that this trend was seen across all three groups. These rates were higher among health care employees who had children and this finding also cut across all three categories of workers.

The study’s authors concluded that health care support workers such as CNAs experienced the highest rates of food insecurity as well as employees who work in nursing homes and residential care facilities—even if the staff have vocational or college degrees. In this setting, 16% of all health care workers experienced food insecurity with 22.7% of the CNAs reported having inadequate food. 

Aside from the ethical implications of having such a high proportion of staff experiencing food security, this study raises additional issues. Can we expect our staff members to take their time in assisting residents with their meals if they are hungry themselves?  Can we expect that staff will distribute snacks at bedtime if they are hungry? What is the impact of having a class of employees who work with inadequate fuel to complete their assignments?  What are the implications for full-time staff members who cannot provide sufficient nutrition for their children?   

Providing our staff with access to the meals given to our residents may help to address the issue of food insecurity as these meals can be viewed as a symbol of our commitment to the health of our employees. Our food may be the only balanced meals our staff access in a given day.

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