The Impact of COVID-19 on Utah Women and Work: Changes, Burnout, and Hope

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020–2021 has impacted all Utahns in profound ways. Yet, a host of national and global
reports have argued that women’s employment and careers have been disproportionately impacted during this time. For example, a McKinsey & Company and Lean In report stated that women are more likely to have been laid off or furloughed, leading to greater financial instability and stalled careers. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research reported that women, and particularly women of color, have unduly experienced job losses and have had greater struggles with managing paid work, caregiving responsibilities, and other types of unpaid work obligations. And the United Nations asserted that the COVID-19 pandemic has deepened preexisting inequalities across every sphere, including a global economy.

Although the experiences of Utah women tend to be similar in many ways to those of women across the United States, the Utah Women & Leadership Project has found in past research that women in the state do experience at least
some challenges differently. To better understand Utah women’s experiences specifically, UWLP researchers conducted
an extensive, in-depth survey focusing on the impacts of COVID-19 on women and work. The survey was opened for
data collection in January 2021 to all Utah women aged 20 or older who were either currently employed or who were unemployed due to the pandemic. The aim was to understand more clearly the experiences of Utah women as they have navigated paid work during the pandemic. This comprehensive study included the collection of data on a wide variety of topic areas and included both quantitative and open-ended questions to capture participants’ perceptions and experiences. This brief is the first in a series of related reports that will be released in upcoming months. Based on a review of the literature, to date we believe this study is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive statewide study. 

Changes in Employment

COVID-19 impacted working women in Utah in a variety of ways. Approximately 15.9% of overall respondents had some
sort of workplace withdrawal during the pandemic, including 2.4% leaving the workforce completely without returning,
2.8% taking a leave of absence, 4.9% moving from full-time to part-time work, 4.4% switching to less demanding jobs,
and 1.4% moving from employee to independent contractor. Conversely, 12.2% took on additional responsibility, with
4.5% moving from part-time to full-time, and 7.7% taking on additional jobs.

Overall, 648 study participants indicated that they left the workforce during the pandemic (between March 2020 and
January 2021), with many of those indicating that they were currently employed again when they took the survey in January 2021.

Income, Work Hour Changes, and Emotions

On average, at least in this sample, a large percentage of women working in food services had decreases in income but
worked an increased number of hours. A large percentage of women in both manufacturing and hospitality/tourism also had decreases in income but an increase in thenumber of hours worked, though the increase was not as large
as that for food services. In contrast, those working in construction, trade/utilities/transportation, and community/nonprofit organizations saw the smallest percentage of workers who experienced decreases in income, but they had a larger percentage of women who experienced an increase in working hours. For community/nonprofit organizations and some businesses, this decrease could have been related to the influx of 2020 CARES Act funding. 

Impact on Women-Owned Businesses

As a group, women entrepreneurs on average were slightly above neutral on the statement, “I am regularly worried about money,” whereas the larger sized group of women who are employed by others slightly disagreed with the statement. Women who work at companies (not entrepreneurs) disagreed with the statement (2.0 on the 7-point scale) that they are likely to lose employment income in the next three months, whereas women entrepreneurs on average were closer to neutral (3.1). Burnout, exhaustion, and struggles with work-life balance are all problems—and near equivalent—across the three groups, with burnout being the most prominent among these concerns.

Pandemic-Specific Support by Employers

Another important element of understanding Utah women’s perceptions and experiences during the pandemic was to
study what policies and practices organizations implemented to provide support to their employees. The flexible work location and flexible hours are important workplace accommodations. Approximately 95.0% of respondents indicated they were working prior to March 2020, and, of that group, approximately one-third indicated they had to adjust their schedule of activities because children in their household had to attend school online from home during 2020.

Food, Housing, and Money Uncertainty

Looking at all the responses on the three types of worry across all levels of household income, the numbers indicate
that worry about money, food, and housing do not always go hand in hand. For example, 13.7% were worried about money and food, 27.9% were worried about money but not food, and 2.5% worried about food but not money. Looking at the possible combination of worry related to food and housing, 9.1% were worried about both food and housing, 6.3% were worried about food but not housing, and 6.5% were worried about housing but not food.

Mental Health, Violence, and Education

The survey also gathered data on work location (home, onsite, or a mix) and three more areas of focus that will be addressed in this final section: mental health, domestic violence, and beliefs about the value of pursuing additional certifications or further education. First, women who now work from home because of the pandemic or work both from home and their place of work more strongly agree that their mental health has declined versus women who continued to work at an onsite location. However, the more burned out now versus before the pandemic is high across all locations, including those who work on-site. Overall, there is stronger agreement with increased burnout than exhaustion because of additional responsibilities at home.

Second, in terms of increased violence in the home, 262 out of the 2861 of survey participants who answered
the question about domestic violence agreed at some level with this statement: “I am concerned about the onset of or
increase in violence in my home since the pandemic began.” We found that the percentages are consistent across all levels of education and that the percentage is slightly higher among Hispanic and Latino women versus White women.

And finally, there were differences in respondents’ beliefs about the value of pursuing additional certifications or further
education in the near future. Four in 10 women working in frontline positions (e.g., care provider, administrative assistant, janitor, driver, food server, trade worker, IT specialist) agreed that the pandemic had shown them they need further education. Women team leads and supervisors shared views more closely aligned with those of women frontline workers. Two in 10 women working in executive positions agreed that they needed further education or training. And professionals (e.g., attorney, consultant, CPA, financial advisor) shared views more closely aligned with executives. This may be attributable to the fact that women in professional, managerial, and leadership roles are more likely to have already obtained additional training and education. Overall, as their position in organizations rises, the percentage of women who believe they need further education decreases.

Conclusion

Overall, the data show that women in Utah have seen many changes as a result of COVID-19. Burnout levels were similar across many of the demographics (e.g., ethnicity, income, job industry, region), an indication that COVID has been difficult for most. Women in industries such as manufacturing, food services, hospitality, and sales have experienced some of the largest percentages of negative impacts to income and increases in hours worked. Entrepreneurs are especially concerned about negative outcomes of the pandemic (e.g., worry about finances and loss of income in the next three months), and women with lower household income tend to have more concerns about finances, food, and housing—but there are still groups experiencing concern across all income levels. Women working from home reported slightly greater agreement that they are experiencing mental decline, burnout, and exhaustion from additional responsibilities in the home than those working at their employers’ worksite. Again, more data are yet to emerge, as this brief is the first in a series of reports that will be released in upcoming months on a host of different topics. 

To learn more, read the full brief.