Brief report: Employees’ perceptions of stress and support during a pandemic mandated telework

Abstract

COVID-19 has forced the knowledge-based workforce into full-time remote work, amplifying every-day stressors. The crisis has resulted in employees having to juggle work and home life simultaneously, while forcing many organizations with little to no experience to implement and manage teleworking. This brief study explores employee perceived stress as it relates to perceived support and age within an American workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a global era of uncertainty and crisis, the findings suggest that employees’ perceived stress is negatively related to age and perceived organizational support, but not related to perceived supervisor support. The pre-pandemic world will likely be a way of the past. Organizations across sectors now have a need to ensure that perceived organizational support is not neglected during the pandemic to ensure that these employers are poised to manage the aftermath.