American workers have new concerns on their minds as recent policy changes – including global tariffs and pauses in federal funding – have left many employees feeling overwhelmed and lacking knowledge. More than 40% of employees are looking to their HR team to help them understand how these recent policy changes will impact them, according to a survey conducted by Justworks and The Harris Poll.
Employees at companies with less than 100 employees felt less knowledgeable about recent policy changes than employees at larger companies. Non-white-collar workers also reported lower levels of knowledge about recent policy changes compared with white-collar workers, the survey found. Overall, 71% of respondents report feeling anxious as words like “recession” and “trade wars” make headlines almost daily.
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Workers vary widely in how much they pay attention to policy news. According to the report, 9% of respondents couldn’t care less about policy changes and about 34% of U.S. adults don’t feel they are impacted personally. About one-quarter said they are paying attention to the highlights and believe they’ll hear about important developments eventually. About 40% report skimming the headlines and say they are “paying enough attention to sound informed at dinner”. One-quarter of respondents would describe themselves as fully locked in on the news and “refreshing their feed like it’s their full time job”.
The report found that white collar workers were especially tuned in to policy news. However, the majority of adults surveyed said they recognize that focusing too much on the headlines is not good for their mental health and more than half said it is too overwhelming to keep up with all the recent policy changes.
About two-thirds of those surveyed said they think policy changes will have more of a direct impact on them during the next year than advancements in artificial intelligence. Among their concerns are reductions in benefits and perks, not getting a raise, worsening company culture and potential layoffs. Employees report taking similar actions in response to policy changes as they have been taking to the tumultuous economic environment, including reducing spending, saving more money, working longer hours and updating their resumes.
“Many employees are looking to their HR leaders for support, and it is essential for us to communicate and contextualize the potential effects of complex policy shifts on employees and their livelihoods,” said Jeri Doris, SVP of People at Justworks “Smaller companies can explore establishing a simple channel, like HR office hours, for employees to voice and discuss concerns privately with their HR teams or establishing a consistent cadence of ‘policy digest’ communications to help employees navigate the current landscape.”
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Kristen Smithberg
Kristen Smithberg is a Colorado-based freelance writer who covers commercial real estate, insurance, benefits and retirement topics for BenefitsPRO and other industry publications.
