There is a particular kind of exhaustion that doesn't get much thought in company spreadsheets. It's the parent who leaves the school WhatsApp group open in one tab and their mother's GP portal in another, both demanding attention during a 9am stand-up meeting.
That exhaustion will walk through office doors every day and log into video calls across the country.
Who Are We Actually Talking About
An estimated 1.4 million people aged 16 to 64 in the UK are what researchers call "sandwich carers": simultaneously raising children and supporting ageing parents. The majority, around 61% to 84% (depending on the study), are women, and most are under 55, meaning they're likely mid-career and juggling both caregiving loads at their most demanding professional moments. More than a quarter report depression or chronic stress, and recent research puts burnout rates among this group as high as 88%.
This isn't a niche HR footnote.
In any UK workplace, roughly one in seven employees is managing paid work alongside some form of caregiving. For a large ecommerce business running lean teams through Q4 peak trading, that's a significant, largely invisible chunk of the workforce that will be holding two households together.
School Holidays Is the Moment It Bites Hardest
School holidays often land awkwardly for sandwich carers: school is closed, but care needs for an ageing parent don't take a week off. Employees are left coordinating childcare cover, GP appointments, care visits, and their own job, often without saying a word about it at work.
Research on flexible working consistently finds that flexibility alone isn't the full answer; it needs to be paired with genuine trust and outcome-based evaluation rather than presenteeism.
Ideas That Respect the Invisible Labour
The most meaningful appreciation here doesn't ask an employee to explain themselves; it simply removes friction they didn't have to name.
🌱 Offer genuine flexibility around half-term week: shifted hours, no-meeting mornings, or the option to log off early without justification, recognising that "flexible working" only works when it's trusted, not policed.
🌱 Send a care-themed biscuit gift straight to the employee's home rather than their desk, so it lands somewhere they'll actually notice it: on the kitchen table, not buried in an inbox.
🌱 Include a message on the biscuits addressed to the whole household, not just the employee: a nod to the partner picking up slack, the children who've had a parent stretched thin, or the parent being cared for.
🌱 Time the gesture, so it reaches them at the start of the juggling act, not after it.
🌱 Skip generic "thanks for your hard work" language; acknowledge specifically that they're managing two generations of care alongside their job.
Why This Matters More Than a Standard Perk
A gym membership or a generic wellbeing voucher doesn't touch what sandwich carers are actually navigating. What lands is being seen for the specific, unglamorous juggling act they're doing, every single day.
A biscuit gift with a message for the whole family says: we know you're not just an employee, you're holding an entire household together, and that doesn't go unnoticed here.
Real appreciation reaches people where their life actually happens, not just where their job title sits. If your People team wants the school holiday season to feel different, then may we suggest starting with a gesture that acknowledges the person behind the employee ID.
