The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Poll: 1 in 4workers hasweighed quitting
NEWYORK— The coronavirus pandemic has put millions of Americans out of work. But many of those stillworking are fearful, distressed and stretched thin.
What’s happening
A quarter of U.S. workers say they have even considered quitting their jobs as worries related to the pandemic weigh on them, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in collaboration with the software company SAP. A fifth say they have taken leave.
About 7 in10workers cited juggling their jobs and other responsibilities as a source of stress. Fears of contracting the virus also was a top concern for those working outside the home.
The good news is that employers are responding. The poll finds 57% of workers saying their employer is doing “about the right amount” inrespondingtothe pandemic; 24% say they are “going above and beyond.” Just 18% say their employer is “falling short.”
That satisfaction seems largely related to physical protections from the virus, which overwhelming majorities of workers considered very important. Still, at least half also say it is very important for their employers to expand sick leave, provide flexibility for caregivers and support mental health, and workers report less satisfaction with efforts in these areas.
Why it’s happening
Lower income workers were especially likely to have considered quitting — 39% of workers in households earning less than $30,000 annually versus just 23% in higher income households.
John Roman, a senior fellow at NORC at the University of Chicago, said those findings likely reflect fears of exposure of the virus among those who can’t work from home. Hourly wage workers are also less likely to feel attachment to a job, making them more likely to search
for safer work, he said.
“This is perhaps the most surprising finding,” Roman said. “The people who can least afford to lose their jobs are leaving jobs in higher numbers. But it fits with the story that they feel unsafe health-wise.”
While65% of remoteworkers say their employers are doing a good job protecting their health, just 50% of those working outside the home say that.
The pandemic isweighing heavily onwomen and people of color, who are most likely to work in essential jobs they can’t do remotely.
Fifty percent of women call the pandemic a major source of stress in their lives,
compared to 36% of men. Sixty-two percent of Black workers and 47% ofHispanic workers say it is, compared to 39% of white workers.
Jamelia Fairley, a single mother who works at a McDonald’s in Florida, said managers initially told her to make masks out of coffee filters and hairnets. Although she now gets protective gear, she said workers often have to serve customers who refuse to wear masks.
“I feel like they should provide us with better protection by having the masks be mandatory, not just for us but for customers,” said Fairley, who has seen her weekly hours cut nearly in
half and has joined a strike to support raising Florida’sminimum wage to $15 an hour.
Federal labor figures point to a trend of working-agewomen, particularly Black and Hispanicwomen, increasingly dropping out of the labor force amid a child care crisis caused by school and daycare closures.
How companies are responding
Many top companies have responded with an array of programs, from increased leave to stipends for child care or tutors, but those benefits are not reaching the vast majority of America’sworkers.
Only about 1 in 10say their
employersareprovidingchild care facilities, stipends or tutoring services. Only 26% say employers are providing extended family leave.
Nearly 7 in10workers consider flexibility for caregivers very important. Fewer than half — 44% — said their employers were doing a good job of that, though just 18% rated employers poorly; another 37% called the response neither good nor bad.
Sarah Blas, a single mother of six in New York, said she has dropped a third of her projects at a nonprofit since her children started going to school remotely because some of them have severe asthma.
“It’s soul crushing,” said Blas, though she is grateful thatheremployerhasallowed her to scale back. “There’s even more work to do now, and I literally have to say no because I’m home-schooling.”
Thepollfinds 28% ofworkers report working fewer hours since the pandemic hit, which could be because they are juggling responsibilities or because employers have cut back their hours. Among Black workers, the number rises to 38%.
Jeff Huffman, who works as a water infrastructure inspector in Ohio, said his company cut all his overtimehoursbecause theyhave stopped sending workers out to cut water fromhouseholds behind on their bills. That has left him struggling topay child supportandworried about giving a proper Christmas to his school-age sons, wholive withhimevery other weekend.
Huffman, who has asthma andworriedaboutvirusexposure, said he has applied for other jobs “out of anxietyand stress.” Huffman said he is disappointed that the company has failed to reach out to give “a little gratitude for the hard work we are doing under all this stress.”
“They really just haven’t check in to see how we are doing. I just feel like like it’s all about money,” Huffman said.
Pandemic-related support varies
The poll shows pandemic-related support varies by company size. Workers at companieswith fewer than 100 employees were less likely than those at larger companies to praise how their employers have handled many responsibilities during the pandemic.
JuanMercado, truck driver for a company that employs more than 1,000people, said his employer has offered counselling, protective equipment, expanded sick leave and paid time off to care for sick relatives.
“That gave us the confidence to continue working because otherwise, Iwould probably say I don’twant to go,” saidMercado, 67, ofCorpus Christie, Texas.