Risking One’s Life to Save One’s Livelihood: Precarious Work, Presenteeism, and Worry About Disease Exposure during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The present study advances research on the negative consequences of precarious work experiences (PWE), which include perceptions of threats to one's job and financial security as well as a sense of powerlessness and inability to exercise rights in the workplace. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a backdrop, we examine how PWE relate to sickness presenteeism and worry about work-related COVID-19 exposure. In a 12-week, four-wave study of workers working fully in-person, perceptions of powerlessness and job insecurity were associated with presenteeism (e.g., general presenteeism as well as attending work with known or possible COVID-19 infection) and concerns about disease exposure at work. Whereas powerlessness primarily operated at the between-person level of analysis, job insecurity's effects emerged at both levels of analysis. A sense of powerlessness at work also predicted sending children to school/daycare sick. In sum, the findings suggest that precarity related to being able to keep one's job and a sense of powerlessness at work contribute to concerns about the risk of COVID-19 exposure at work and, simultaneously, behaviors that may contribute to the health risks faced by others. This research provides added support to the argument that precarious work should be addressed in order to improve both worker well-being and public health.

Department(s)

Psychological Science

Comments

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Grant 9278082

Keywords and Phrases

COVID-19 pandemic; job insecurity; powerlessness; presenteeism; work precarity

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1939-1307; 1076-8998

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2024 American Psychological Association, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2023

PubMed ID

37856382

Link to Full Text

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