How COVID-19 Is Impacting American Workers
COVID-19 is a tsunami, traveling in multiple directions with job, health, mental health, and family all its path. It’s no surprise: the impact on workers has been devastating.
Empower Work, a national nonprofit that supports vulnerable workers, has experienced the rolling waves since March as we help workers navigate the complexities of COVID-19. In addition to monitoring the trends we see on our text line, we periodically conduct surveys to understand where the greatest needs lie. We recently surveyed 120 people across every industry and geography to ask about the impact of the pandemic on their work.
Workers from health care to education, retail to construction, shared insights about their needs and what their employers are–and aren’t–doing to support them. Empower Work will continue to shed light on the challenges arising for working Americans as COVID-19 sweeps through the country for the foreseeable future. Supporting the safety, mental health, and financial security of workers is critical for individuals, our communities, our economy, and our democracy.
Top ten ways workers have been impacted by the pandemic
Eighty-nine percent of respondents said the coronavirus had affected their work, with only 5 percent saying it had not and 4 percent saying they hadn’t yet been impacted on the job, but expected to be.
There are intersecting ways people are feeling impacted:
54% are stressed or overwhelmed
51% are newly working from home
42% are concerned about personal finances
32% report new team dynamics
31% feel increased job demands
25% job duties had changed
24% have been laid off or furloughed
22% report challenges with caregiving duties
20% have more tense relationships with coworkers
16% are being asked to come into the office despite health risks
We expected to see workers are feeling strain, but some worries were particularly striking.
What worries workers most about COVID-19
On our text line and in the survey, the top two concerns related to the pandemic have been fear of getting sick and fear of job loss. People reported apprehension about their employers not taking proper safety precautions or there not being protocols for customers, clients, patients, or students that would put them at risk.
One respondent shared, “It's a matter of time that everyone is going to get infected by the virus cause everyday my job have someone sick.”
The financial and mental health strains are profound. In addition to safety concerns, workers are feeling stressed and overwhelmed with hours cut, furloughs or lay offs. For others, work loads have increased. In some cases, staffing levels have gone down; in other cases, business has picked up. And a large number of people are working from home for the first time, contending with new dynamics on the work team as well as in their families. Many people are on double duty, homeschooling their children. And of course, some are sick, recovering, or caring for sick family members.
There’s also a sense that the larger economic conditions mean fewer job prospects and the pressure to retain a current job no matter what.
One respondent shared, “Although I am currently in a safe position, work-wise, I was working to move to my next challenge and this has been stopped due to COVID, I fear I will have to stay in this position where I am burned out and that gets worse due to confinement and WFH.”
Employers aren’t communicating
Respondents expressed significant frustration with employer communications. In early March, before local governments issued shelter-in-place orders, we heard concerns that employers were not taking the threat seriously, and were not taking any action. It revealed deeper workplace tensions related to distrust and insecurity. Although some employers started allowing staff to work at home before government mandates, other companies waited until workers tested positive for COVID-19 to change their policies. The slowness and dearth of information increased fears.
One worker shared their biggest concern was, “The lack of clear communication and guidance from leadership combined with the excessive amount of work being required by staff without any cohesive coordination.”
People whose jobs must be done on-site reported lack of communication from their employers about expectations and safety, as well as inability to get protective gear or maintain physical distance from customers or coworkers.
Perhaps most surprising, almost four months after the first shelter-in-place orders, half of workers we surveyed said their employers still had not adjusted their working conditions. As we look to a future where COVID-19 is with us for the foreseeable future, this lack of adjustment is striking and has negative implications for the health and well-being of employees, the business, and the community.
Uncertainty at federal, state, local, and company levels is negatively impacting mental health
Workers shared again and again the negative impact the uncertainty was having on their mental health. Notably, workers report confusion on multiple levels from feeling frustrated at a lack of national response to uncertainty about how unemployment, health care, or furloughs work. For example, contractors not aware they can file for unemployment under the CARES Act or confusion about filing for benefits. One worker wrote, “My partner was furloughed then told he would eventually be laid off but not yet. It all makes accessing unemployment benefits and accrued PTO confusing.”
In addition, internal uncertainty and tension with coworkers is adding strain. Prior to COVID-19, most of the people reaching out to us about interpersonal conflict at work spoke about troubles with their manager. In this survey, 20 percent reported they were experiencing increasing tension with coworkers. One said the hardest part of adjusting to the pandemic was the pressure building up as the workplace has become destabilized, “Potential layoffs and heightened coworker tensions or miscommunication because there's no face time and people may project their stress onto others.”
Another shared, “Everyone feels trapped, like traffic gridlock. We need to know how we are actually going to get out of this mess. It's hard to look forward when we don't know what is coming. The uncertainty is the worst thing.”
Workers shared that they were having trouble sleeping, concerned about their mental stability, and worried that the stress would impact their physical health amidst the pandemic.
Financial concerns are compounding
Nearly 40% of Americans don’t have the financial security to cover a $400 emergency with cash, savings, or a credit-card charge. That financial precariousness, and the lack of a social safety net, is terrifying for workers right now. Job loss, hours cut, furloughs, concerns about the financial sustainability of their employer, whether it’s a city government or small business are high and growing.
“I'm concerned about my mental health. The stimulant checks leaving me nothing. Highly stress-out job with not enough workers. Health measures not implemented. No hazard pay to encourage employees. No sick leave. No lunches,” one person said.
The burden of unequal work has also increased with employees worried about speaking out for fear of losing a job while jobs are scarce, “We were already underpaid, now we have doubled workload and stress with no motivation to do the work.”
The pandemic has amplified the inequalities surrounding childcare
Many school systems around the U.S. haven’t finalized their plans for safety at school facilities, or for offering online instruction. For many workers, especially those who work essential, less flexible jobs, schools also serve as childcare centers. Many families can’t get back to work until there’s childcare, whether that’s for school-age kids or early childhood.
This is causing significant stress. One worker wrote they’re most concerned about, “Getting fired for not doing my job while working from home and caring for my baby by myself.”
And this has a clear and negative impact on women in particular. “Neither my company, nor my immediate team, seem to have an understanding of my childcare and household responsibilities now. My husband and I both work full-time. The weight of his obligations to his company far exceed mine. As a result, I am bearing the role as primary caregiver to two young children who need constant supervision. I'm the only person on my team who has a spouse who works full-time, and there doesn't seem to be much empathy for juggling the requirements of childcare.”
What workers want from employers
Where does this leave workers and employers? With cases rising, prolonged business disruption, and states struggling to figure out reopening, being safe at work is an imperative. The federal government has left it to state and local governments to devise their own COVID-19 response. Those, in turn, have not given much specific guidance to businesses.
That may be the reason only 51 percent of survey respondents say their employer shifted working conditions as a result of COVID. And only 33 percent of those we surveyed agreed their employers provided clear support for handling it all.
Workers feel mostly on their own, with each negotiating what’s best for them and their families, juggling needs to protect their individual and family health, earn a living, educate their kids, and prepare for how their job, well-being, or financial and mental health might change permanently.
But they don’t want to be. It feels dehumanizing amidst such a communal, collective emergency. One worker shared, “we are human beings in fear of our future. We have no guarantee to continue working and get salary. There are no other sources to get money or food for me and my family without that.”
Workers would like to see from their employers specifically:
Clear communications about expectations, resources, safety, and the status of the business
Strong practices to support the health and safety of employees like requiring masks for customers, providing personal protective equipment (PPE) for employees, and paid sick time
Hazard pay for those in workplaces where remote options are not possible or exposure may be higher and paid-time off for those who are vulnerable, caring for others, or without childcare
Mental health support through health care, employee assistance programs, or recommended accessible resources
To support these clear worker needs, there are strong, concrete worker-centered suggestions like Clean Slate for Worker Power’s recent report that details ideas including mandating an elected safety steward in every workplace and creating workplace safety and health committees. And the National Partnership for Women & Families and the National Employment Law Project (NELP) has published specific Employer Best Practices that detail recommendations ranging from establishing paid sick leave to providing support for furloughed or laid off employees.
At Empower Work, we see the struggles workers, particularly those most vulnerable, are facing every day amidst this pandemic. We also see their creativity, commitment, and resilience.
COVID-19 has tested the fabric of our workplaces, communities, and democracy; but it also provides an opportunity: As we create solutions to address this tsunami, we can reimagine safer, healthier, more equitable workplaces than the ones we had to put on pause. To do that, we need to listen to workers, and have clearly coordinated laws, policies, and approaches at all levels.