Employees’ Perceived Risk of Discussing COVID-19 Concerns in the Workplace: The Impact of Perceived Organizational Support and Policy Communication on Voicing Health Concerns in Times of Crisis

Abstract

Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic transformed the nature of work across the globe and forced organizations to grapple with the challenge of protecting their workers, while maintaining operations. Part of the challenges associated with the pandemic included instituting new COVID-19 workplace policies (e.g., social distancing, masking) designed to protect employees from spread of the virus. The present study is designed to understand employee perceptions of the risks of discussing their COVID-19 concerns in the workplace and how this is related to perceived organizational support and COVID-19 policy communication. Methods: Two-hundred and fifty-two individuals working during the COVID-19 pandemic completed an online survey administered via Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Participants' COVID-19 policy communication within their organization, their perceptions of organizational support, and their perceived risk associated with discussing COVID-19 concerns in the workplace were analyzed with Pearson correlations and hierarchical regression models using SPSS 27. Results: COVID-19 policy communication was negatively correlated to employees' levels of perceived organizational support (r =-.148, p = .018). The regression models indicated that COVID-19 policy communication and perceived organizational support explain a significant amount of employees' perceived risks of discussing COVID-19 concerns in the workplace. Conclusions: Organizations need to be aware of whether employees feel supported by organizational policies and whether they can reveal their concerns about health-related issues and/or organizational crises in their workplace. The implications of the study findings are discussed in terms of the risks of discussing health concerns in the workplace and the nature of work in times of crisis.