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46% of Professionals Fear Layoffs Due To COVID-19

As the coronavirus pandemic has no end in sight , there is still so much uncertainty about the workplace. The opinions of the everyday professional matters in this, as the turbulent economy directly impacts them most. At Blind, we turned to our users to gauge what professionals are feeling in terms of lay-offs, income, and timeline. The anonymous professional network, with 3.6M verified users, asked its platform these three questions in March, and again this week:

  1. Do you fear being laid off? (Yes/No)
  2. Have you started looking for new ways to supplement your income? (Yes, No)
  3. How many months will it take until you foresee life going “back to normal”?

 (Less than a month, 1-3 months, 4-6 months, 6-12 months, more than a year)

Key Findings as of 3/20 VS 6/28 by Region(5,700 Responses): 

    • 46% of surveyed professionals fear being laid off
      • Compared to 57% in March
        • 87.5% of Expedia professionals
      • Fears of layoff at Amazon fell from 46.3% to 42%
      • 64% of Uber professionals still fear being laid off
    • In March, 24.9% of surveyed professionals have looked for new ways to supplement their income

 

  • This number went up to 31% in July

 

      • 39% of Intel Corp professionals
      • 41% of Uber professionals
      • 24% of Amazon professionals
  • In March, 40.2% of surveyed professionals believed it would have taken 6-12 months for life to go “back to normal”
    • 4 months later,  44% of surveyed professionals now believe it’ll take more than a year for life to go “back to normal”
      • 4% think it will take 1-3 months 

See the data highlights here.

Without significant breakthroughs with a vaccine, it is time to tell a narrative about the state of the Coronavirus economy. It is best understood by the everyday people working in it, not just the perspective of decision-makers, as their lives and welfare are the engine behind our economic recovery 

Below are the standalone high level findings in March:

57% of surveyed professionals fear being laid off

  • 23.7% of surveyed professionals have looked for new ways to supplement their income
    • 30.6% of Expedia professionals
    • 19.2% of Amazon professionals
    • 17.8% of Google professionals
    • 22.7% of Apple professionals
    • 27.1% of Capital One professionals
    • 28.6% of IBM professionals
    • 26.4% of JPMorgan professionals
    • 19.2% of Bloomberg professionals
  • 40.6% of surveyed professionals believe it will take 6-12 months for life to go “back to normal”
    • 2.1% think it will take 1-3 months 
    • 13.2% believe it will take more than a year

The good news is that companies stepped up to the plate and reminded us that we are in this together. For example, Capital One extended PTO for all employees to take care of their families. During this time of crisis, Salesforce urged employees to take care of their health and family first, and said that they understood if people cannot be as productive. At Blind, we believe these empathetic and human acts decreased the overall fear seen back in March. 

Within the community on Blind, we opened channels for professionals to discuss Coronavirus in the workplace, side jobs, and referrals.  Here, you can see this anonymous community come together. Although times are dark and uncertain, it is these acts of kindness that reconnect us to our own humanity. To survive a pandemic, we must take care of our teams and emerge together.