Psychosocial Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Employees

Abstract

COVID-19 has been impacting the physical, mental, and social well-being of employees worldwide. While psychological support is being offered to the frontline workers, other working populations are often neglected. Moreover, although several research papers about this topic are available internationally, no independent study on this subject has yet been conducted among workers in the Middle East. The main objective of this research is to study the psychosocial impact of COVID-19 on employees in the Sultanate of Oman. Primary data was collected from 97 employees using snowball and convenience sampling techniques and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square analyses along with post-hoc tests. Findings indicated that various workplace, family, and health-related issues arising out of COVID-19 have significantly impacted the psychosocial condition of workers. Non-payment of bonuses had a high impact on non-managerial cadres. Increased medical expenses for family members had a high impact on those in the younger age group. We recommend that the psychosocial condition of workers is recognized as clinically relevant, and that psychosocial support be made available to all workers. The theoretical implications of this research are related to the cognitive theory of anxiety and attribution theory, while practical implications include the impact of COVID-19 on the psychosocial condition of workers. This research is relevant to the Asian as well as global scenarios, as the COVID-19 situation has affected workers alike, worldwide.

Keywords

• Psychosocial impact;
• Occupational health;
• Worker well-being;
• Mental health;
• COVID-19;
• Pandemic;