Food Insecurity Is a Workplace Issue

"An employee checks their bank balance before lunch and decides to skip it. A parent at work calculates how many meals are left before payday and hopes the groceries stretch. These are not scenes from the distant margins of the economy. They are increasingly common experiences among people who are employed. When we talk about workplace performance, we tend to focus on skills, motivation, and leadership. We debate engagement strategies and design incentive systems."

"They show up to meetings, log into Zoom calls, operate machinery, serve customers, and manage teams while worrying about whether there will be enough food at home. My colleagues Jason Moy (University of Washington), Ussama Khan (London Business School), Wei Jee Ong (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), and I conducted a series of studies that are forthcoming in the Journal of Applied Psychology. We examined how food insecurity relates to work outcomes."

"It appeared across different groups and settings. Food insecurity imposes a steady psychological burden. When access to something as fundamental as food feels uncertain, part of the mind is always running a background calculation: How much is left? What can be skipped? What happens if something unexpected comes up? That mental activity does not shut off when the workday begins. Attention is finite. Energy"

Food insecurity among employed adults reduces workplace performance and engagement by creating persistent anxiety and cognitive load. Workers experiencing food scarcity attend meetings and perform tasks while worrying about meals, which drains attention and energy needed for concentration. Across multiple employee samples, food insecurity consistently predicted lower task performance and lower engagement. Anxiety mediated the relationship between food insecurity and poorer work outcomes. A field experiment showed that providing food aid reduced anxiety and increased engagement. These effects were observed across different groups and work settings, indicating a broad and meaningful impact on organizational outcomes.

Read at Psychology Today