U.S. Worker Satisfaction With Job Safety Down Amid COVID

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sixty-five percent of U.S. workers say they are completely satisfied with the physical safety conditions at their workplace, down significantly from 74% a year ago. The decline comes amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has made workplace environments risky due to contact with co-workers or the public. Satisfaction with workplace safety was last at this level in 2001. It had been as high as 79% just three years ago.

The results are from Gallup's annual Work and Education poll, conducted July 30-Aug. 12.

Lower-income workers, those without a college degree, and men are among the groups who have had the largest declines in satisfaction with workplace safety. These groups are more likely than others to hold jobs that can be considered blue collar, including service, repair and factory jobs.

	2019	2020	Change
	%	%	Pct. Pts.
All Workers	74	65	-9
Men	79	65	-14
Women	68	65	-3
White workers	78	69	-9
Non-White workers	67	59	-8
College graduate	71	71	0
College nongraduate	77	61	-16
Annual household income less than $75,000	72	55	-17
Annual household income $75,000 or higher	78	73	-5
Gallup

Many white-collar workers have shifted to fulltime remote work during the pandemic. As might be expected, workers who are now working primarily or entirely from home are generally satisfied with their physical safety conditions - 74% say they are. In contrast, 61% of those who indicate they are working mostly or completely outside their home are satisfied.

Worker Satisfaction With Other Job Aspects Generally Steady

In addition to workplace safety, Gallup measures worker satisfaction with 12 other job aspects. Satisfaction did not change to a meaningful degree on any of the aspects besides workplace safety.

Prior to this year, workplace safety was typically one of the job aspects with which workers were most satisfied. Now, it has fallen behind co-worker relations (75%) and the flexibility of work hours (68%). Satisfaction with job security (64%) and one's boss or immediate supervisor (63%) are similar to satisfaction with workplace safety.

Workers are least satisfied with the amount of stress associated with their job (35%) and the amount of money they earn (39%).

	Completely satisfied, 2019	Completely satisfied, 2020	Change
	%	%	Pct. Pts.
Your relations with co-workers	74	75	1
The flexibility of your hours	64	68	4
The physical safety conditions of your workplace	74	65	-9
Your job security	65	64	-1
Your boss or immediate supervisor	59	63	4
The amount of work that is required of you	58	60	2
The recognition you receive at work for your work accomplishments	52	57	5
The amount of vacation time you receive	56	54	-2
Your chances for promotion	44	48	4
The health insurance benefits your employer offers	41	43	2
The retirement plan your employer offers	36	41	5
The amount of money you earn	37	39	2
The amount of on-the-job stress in your job	34	35	1
Gallup

In addition to workplace safety conditions, remote and onsite workers differ on job security, only in this case, it is onsite workers who are more satisfied (69%) than remote workers (53%), perhaps reflecting increased workloads of frontline workers. The two types of workers show similar levels of satisfaction on all other work aspects measured in the survey.

Implications

The coronavirus has temporarily, if not permanently, transformed the way most Americans work. In general, the changes have not significantly altered the way employed Americans view their jobs, with the exception of a decline in satisfaction with their physical safety at work. This decline was perhaps unavoidable given how contagious the coronavirus is, and is the case even though many employers are taking precautions to keep their employers safe. But such precautions, which are becoming increasingly common, may have helped prevent an even steeper decline in worker satisfaction with their safety. Of course, many workers are avoiding COVID-19 exposure by working remotely; Gallup estimates one in four workers are now fulltime remote workers.

View complete question responses and trends (PDF download).

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