Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic affected every functioning system in the United States. Workers deemed “essential” faced multiple threats to their well-being that quickly led to acute symptoms of anxiety, depression, burnout, and overall exhaustion, and organizations were challenged to devise employee protocols to maintain sustainability. This qualitative study takes a tension-centered approach to discern how “essential workers” in the United States navigated this tenuous work landscape, particularly with regard to emotional work and workplace dignity. We conducted 19 semi-structured in-depth interviews with essential workers during COVID-19. Our constant comparative analysis of the data identified a macro-tension between vulnerability and sustainability that was revealed through two micro-tensions: (a) essential work as instrumental and disposable, and (b) workplace dignity as recognized and transgressed. We unpack the emotional responses enmeshed in these micro-tensions and situate our findings at the intersection of organizational sustainability, emotional work and workplace dignity. We offer theoretical and practical implications for essential workers and organizations.
Highlights
We propose a tension-centered framework to investigate the ways in which emotional work and workplace dignity bring to the surface dilemmas for individuals performing essential work as organizations aim for sustainability during the COVID-19 pandemic
Our analysis provides a snapshot of “essential work” during COVID-19, and demonstrates that organizational sustainability and vulnerability are pitted against each other, leaving essential workers with feelings of exhaustion, frustration, and a desire to leave the workforce
Future research should continue to explore the ways in which organizational sustainability goals can bump up against the interests of individual workers, and the strategic ways in which workers navigate that tension
Summary
The pandemic challenged us to rethink what work is most important and valuable to meet critical economic and public health demands in the United States [1]. One of the most significant labels during the pandemic was “essential worker”. This label separated workers who could perform their duties remotely from those who had to physically show up to work amidst the pandemic restrictions. The occupations that came to be labeled “essential” in the United States varied from state to state; the official definition of “essential work” remained consistent
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