How does gender and work location impact perceived worker stress during COVID-19? Findings from King County, WA

Abstract

Using an online survey, we explored workplace determinants of perceived stress during COVID-19 in n = 2910 county government workers, and differences in perceived stress by gender and work arrangement (work from home v. do not work from home). We explored relationships with descriptive statistics and linear regression. Access to health and safety resources, increased workplace safety climate, support for work-life balance, and increased access to sick leave were related to lower stress; dependent care stress and female gender were related to higher stress. Among those working from home, higher stress related to an increase in workload and erosion of work/life boundaries. Findings show how the workplace impacts stress, differential determinants by gender/work arrangement, and areas to intervene to improve employee health and well-being.

Keywords:

• COVID-19; worker stress
• work from home
• workplace determinants
• female workers

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the King County Auditor’s Office for their assistance in helping to develop and promote this survey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available at: https://github.com/bakermarissa/countyworkers

Additional information

Funding

Research presented here was supported by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) under grant T42OH008433 and by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) under grant P30ES007033. The findings and conclusions reported here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of NIOSH or NIEHS.