The State of Vulnerable Workers 2022: Unsafe and Disrespected

350,000 messages exchanged paint a clear picture of what workers need to thrive

Background

Since mid-2020, workplaces across the United States have experienced a “great disruption.” Headlines about the Great Resignation, quiet quitting, labor shortages, return to office, and union organizing reinforce this. 

Yet, the data and headlines paint an incomplete picture. We know 47.8 million workers quit their jobs in 2021, an average of 4 million, or 3% of the workforce, per month. We also know that the overall labor force participation rate has been dropping for a decade. Increasing numbers of people eligible to work are not working. These statistics point to a problem, but fail to communicate what the problem is. 

In short, the lived experiences of workers are missing. Statistics focused only on quitting rates and labor force participation vastly underreport—if not completely overlook—the ongoing distress and dissatisfaction of workers that inform these mass trends. In order to understand the state of the American workplace, it is imperative to understand the state of the vulnerable worker—those who want to leave but can’t, who may one day leave and become a statistic.

Empower Work is uniquely positioned to shed light on this issue and give context to these statistics. Empower Work offers text-based support for work challenges through trained, volunteer peer counselors. We exchange thousands of messages every week with people experiencing difficult situations at work across the United States, particularly vulnerable workers who have less social and financial capital to navigate workplace challenges. This gives us the ability to bring workers’ voices—which have too often been missing—to the conversation.  

Our 2022 study on the State of Vulnerable Workers explores the question: What is the root cause of the great workplace disruption, and how can we improve both workplaces and workers' lives?

Who We Serve

Tough work situations are universal, but people from historically marginalized communities are the most severely impacted. Historically marginalized workers are not only more likely to face adversity, they’re less likely to have support such as financial resources and social capital to navigate workplace challenges—or hold out for better jobs. Empower Work was created to support vulnerable workers, particularly those in companies with fewer than 100 employees, which employ  32.4% of all U.S. workers. 

We serve the following demographics: 

Our Data Sources

We used two sources of data for this research inquiry:

• Conversation data: A database of 11,000+ anonymized text conversations, comprising 350,000 messages between workers who contact us and their peer counselors, tagged for emotions, subject matter, and other factors.

• Worker reflection data: A follow-up survey of individuals who have used the text line to better understand key elements of worker experience not captured in the structure of the conversations (e.g., what resources workers have found most helpful).

When analyzed, this data provides insight into the perspectives of the people who text Empower Work in crisis, highlighting patterns in workers’ needs and paths forward. 

Study Highlights

Findings

Workers chat with Empower Work peer counselors for a variety of reasons and issues—interpersonal conflict, bias, bullying, harassment, fear of job loss, salary or wage questions, scheduling, etc.. Across all of the text conversations, 70% of workers mention feeling unsafe or disrespected. 

Combined with workers’ own words, our aggregated and anonymized data supports a key insight: Safety and respect are pillars on which workplace well-being rests. 

Conversation data shows that the absence of safety and respect in the workplace takes a severe toll on worker well-being and leads to outcomes that harm both workers and employers.

In conversation data, 70% said they felt unsafe or disrespected

“Unsafe” and “disrespected” were the most common keywords found in conversation data. 

What unsafe looks like in the workplace in workers’ words

In worker reflection data, the numbers were higher. 57.5% indicated they had experienced an unsafe work environment in the past year.

“There was an incident back 5 years ago. I pulled out a shelf holding a large machining fixture (600lbs) to do a setup on my machine. There were no stops and it fell to the ground. I was able to jump back and avoid getting crushed by it. It was never properly investigated to my knowledge.”

“…my reputation [healthcare worker] is in danger. I want to fight back but am afraid he will win. "His favorite tactic" when I try to bring up concerns is that I must have something going on personally that is making me feel this way.  [He] uses words like hysterical, or irrational, or towards other females "lost cause", "emotionally unstable…"

“Being passively aggressively bullied at work [nursing]. Embarrassed and not sure what to do. I am out and gay. Feel like it ties to that some and also to being very organized and productive which is not viewed well by co-workers.”

“I currently work at a [restaurant chain] and I am currently with child and I have been threatened by another coworker several times … We did have a meeting with the head manager of the store. The head manager called me and the other co-worker into the office to have a talk with us but all he said was “we are not elementary school, we are going to work with people we don't like but it's life.”

“I feel like I might have to quit my job and I honestly don't want to but it is no way my safety is guaranteed.”

What disrespected looks like in the workplace in workers’ words

In worker reflection data, the numbers were again higher. 23% indicated they had felt disrespected in the past year.

“I'm the boss's dog. I try hard to please, wag my tail, then get kicked in the teeth or just ignored. I've been given job duties far below my skill sets. Not sure what to do at this point. Really just tired of it all. The anxiety has affected everything, including my health, in a negative way.”

“I have a documented disability and more than once he's denied me the reasonable accommodation of being able to take notes when he's giving instructions. And then berated me later for not following the instructions.”

“My greatest challenges in my working relationship with 'Frank' are micromanagement, withholding information, assigning tasks without training, inflexibility,  communication style, and refusal to listen, and when I push to be heard, what feels like retaliation.”

How feeling unsafe or disrespected impacts workers

Stress and anxiety are the highest emotions. 32% of conversation data in 2022 included a reference to workplace stress, a 33% increase over 2021. Stress in 2022 has doubled compared to 2019. 

“I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. I am reduced to panic and anxiety and tears anytime I try to articulate what's happened.”

“What can I do? My doctor has taken me off work until 2/23, but I’m a wreck about what I will face when I return.”

“ … when I am stressed I feel the anxiety and fear of not being able to do the things I enjoy. They come from a space of peace and rest and it is hard to be creative under negative stress.”

“I'm experiencing all kinds of physical pains, gi symptoms, anxiety, etc. It has been almost non-stop the whole time I worked there—almost 2 months.”

Under these conditions, people leave their jobs when they have the resources to do so. The workers who contact Empower Work for support often face barriers to making a change.

“I've been having a hard time being productive and meeting my metrics at work. I'm extremely unsatisfied with the job but losing it gives me anxiety since the company pays for my education.”

“[T]here's a bit of trepidation that I will end up in a similar kind of work environment, although this has to have been the worst I've ever worked in. It felt completely toxic and out of control.”

“I started work at this construction company and my foreman stated to me “I'll give you 2 weeks before you quit". Ever since that statement I've heard very profane language, racist remarks, and there were days that I was not given a water break. … I really want to quit because I can't take my boss making my work environment hostile any more but I need the funds.”

In worker reflection data, 81% indicated experiencing stress or anxiety caused by work over the past year, and 62% felt burned out.

In worker reflection data, 80% indicated they don’t trust their employer’s human resources departments.

Our conversations intentionally focus on exploring how someone is feeling and what steps they might take. Yet conversation data supports the workers’ reflections. When human resources departments are mentioned, workers often say the experience is unhelpful or negative.

“I don’t want to ruin my chances of staying at a job that I love doing by going to HR which is why I am conflicted on what to do.”

“My boss doubles as our HR department. By the way, I have taught harassment training. I know what it looks like.”

“I just sent my official ADHD diagnosis to HR to cover my bases … I feel like he's railroading me. … feel like he's refusing to make ADA accommodations.”

In worker reflection data, 90% indicated the government does not help them. 

Conversation data supports this. Nearly 10% of conversations on the text line lead to a referral to government-related resources. But when people bring up their dealings with government agencies, those experiences can be confusing or even worsen the situation. 

“I'm no longer employed with a company I worked for since March.  They're continuing to harass me in my personal space and home because of an EEOC charge.”

“[I’ve been at] a company in [Western State] for 10 months. They recently let me go and I live in [Midwestern State]. How do I file for unemployment?”

"I reached out to the Chicago labor board but have been ghosted by them twice... it's become pretty uninspiring." 

“I wish the EEOC would step in and help me. It is my last chance to survive. My attorney contacted EEOC this morning because there have not been any updates and [the EEOC rep said] my complaint [submitted several months ago]  is not appearing in the system.”

“Yeah, honestly I find that most resources online just list common sense things, and I've already paid someone lots of money to help me individually.”

The Change Workers Seek: Workplace Culture

 “A culture with strong values and principles” was the most common response in worker reflection data to the question “What would improve your situation at work?” 

55% selected that item from a list of choices (“all that apply”). This was by far the most popular response—more popular than flexible schedules, health benefits, and better pay.

A possible reason for this are the interpersonal and cultural challenges the survey respondents indicated they face at work.

These workers say one reason they reach out is that they “don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

What would this improved culture look like? When asked, here are some ideas from workers in their own words:

"Stop all the bickering backstabbing, threats, and workplace negativity."

"Observe fair employment law; it's not just some inconvenience that they have to pay an indulgence to systematically violate."

"Honor the reasonable requests employees make because they will be more loyal if they do."

"Set and communicate clear priorities."

By far the most common two words across ideas from workers:

"Listen."

"Care."

About Empower Work

Empower Work is a national 501(c)3 nonprofit on a mission to create healthy, equitable workplaces where people are supported, valued, and empowered. We believe that when people thrive at work, communities, companies, the economy, and our democracy, thrive. To reach that, we need to dramatically shift cultural norms and expectations within workplaces. And we need to radically transform how we support people at critical, opportunity-altering moments.

Our approach fuels positive change in three ways: 

1. Improved economic and emotional well-being for less-represented and less-resourced workers via immediate, confidential SMS support,

2. Improved workplace practices as volunteer peer counselors bring their 25+ hours of Empower Work training to their workplaces creating a ripple effect, and

3. Systemic workplace change as our data and storytelling informs new approaches, training, & policy.

A snapshot of our 2021 Impact is available at: https://www.empowerwork.org/impact2021

For more information about this report, or Empower Work, please contact Tina Wie, tina@empowerwork.org.