Financially Insecure Workers Face Greater Workplace Challenges During COVID-19 Pandemic

Financially vulnerable Americans most impacted by COVID-19 pandemic

As the American workplace undergoes sweeping changes to operations, policies, and staffing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, American workers who are most financially insecure are having a much harder time than their wealthier counterparts. In a survey conducted from March 23-31, 2020, EurekaFacts evaluated the attitudes and experiences during the early part of the coronavirus pandemic based on levels of financial security. Americans are categorized into one of three groups (no difficulty, some difficulty, or great difficulty) based on their answers to questions about the level of difficulty affording their expenses, including food, housing, health care, utilities, transportation, and childcare.

  • Close to half (45%) of American workers who have great difficulty affording basic expenses say that their workplace has stopped operations and sent employees home without pay, compared with just 18% of those who report no difficulty affording their core expenses.
  • Another 41% of the most financially distressed Americans say that their employers have laid-off large portions of staff due to financial troubles linked to COVID-19, while only 15% of those without difficulty affording basic expenses report widespread lay-offs in their workplace.
  • At the same time, by a margin of 12-points, workers who have no difficulty affording their essential expenses are more likely to be hearing about how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace than are workers who are most financially insecure (88% vs 76%).

How Coronavirus Is Impacting America’s Most Financially Insecure Workers

Source: EurekaFacts Panel Survey of U.S. adults, March 23-31, 2020. N=936. Conducted in compliance with ISO: 20252 to which EurekaFacts is certified.

Most financially distressed workers have been granted flexible leave by their employers to stay home if they are sick

For several other aspects of work life, during the coronavirus outbreak, there are modest differences between workers who have great difficulty affording basic expenses and those who have some or no difficulty paying for essentials needs.

 

  • About four-in-ten among those at all levels of financial security say that their place of work has stopped operations and sent employees home with pay, including 41% of those who report great difficulty affording basic needs, such as food and housing.
  • When it comes to creating flexible workplace leave policies during the pandemic that make it easier for the sick to stay home, a majority (58%) of the most financially distressed workers have been granted this flexibility by their employers. That is on par with two-thirds (66%) of workers who report no difficulty affording their essential needs.
  • Overall, fewer than half (41%) of American workers say that their employer has created a back-up system that would allow other workers to cover the work of sick or quarantined staff members in their workplace. Slightly more of those who face great financial stress say that their employer has instituted a back-up system like this than among American workers who have no difficulty with basic expenses (45% vs. 39%).

Workplace Policies During COVID-19

Source: EurekaFacts Panel Survey of U.S. adults, March 23-31, 2020. N=936. Conducted in compliance with ISO: 20252 to which EurekaFacts is certified.

How financially stressed American view the impact of COVID-19 on themselves and their communities

Americans who face great difficulty affording their basic expenses are far more likely than their more well-off counterparts to be “very concerned” about the impact of COVID-19 on their local economy (73%) and their place of work (66%).

 

  • By contrast, a slim majority of those with no difficultly affording basic expenses say that they are “very concerned” about their local economy (55%) and about a third (37%) are very concerned about their workplace amidst COVID-19.
  • Moreover, two-thirds of the most financially insecure Americans are “very concerned” about the ability of their local hospitals and clinics to care for the sick (69%), compared with just over half (55%) of Americans who say they have no difficulty affording core expenses.
  • When it comes to their personal health, 64% of the financially distressed say they are “very concerned” about COVID-19, while just 39% of those with no difficulty affording basic needs say they are very concerned about their personal health.

Financially Distressed Americans Are More Concerned Than Others About the Impact of COVID-19

Source: EurekaFacts Panel Survey of U.S. adults, March 23-31, 2020. N=936. Conducted in compliance with ISO: 20252 to which EurekaFacts is certified.

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Results of the EurekaFacts national poll are available as a downloadable PDF. Sample sizes and sampling errors for overall results and subgroups available upon request. Read our first COVID-19 press release and second COVID-19 press release. For more information about this study or additional research conducted by EurekaFacts, please contact Robert Suls at sulsr@eurekafacts.com.