What is it about?
Economic and geopolitical crises do not stop at the workplace door. We followed 241 employees in Germany across six surveys during the 2022–2023 energy and inflation crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We examined the combined effects of rising food and energy costs and safety concerns on exhaustion and voluntary behaviors that support colleagues and organizations. Employees who were more strongly affected by these pressures initially reported greater exhaustion, and financial worries helped explain this relationship. The effects on supportive workplace behavior were weaker. Unexpectedly, employees initially facing greater pressures showed a stronger decline in exhaustion over time, possibly reflecting adaptation or changing economic conditions.
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Why is it important?
Organizations cannot control wars, inflation, or energy prices, but they should recognize that such events can affect employees’ well-being and capacity at work. Financial worries appear to be an important pathway through which wider crises contribute to exhaustion. Adequate pay is therefore fundamental, but organizations can also help through transparent communication about job security and available benefits, access to financial or legal advice, counseling services, and supportive leadership. During crises, employees may also have fewer resources available for helping colleagues or taking on additional tasks. Recognizing this can prevent organizations from misinterpreting reduced extra effort as a lack of commitment.
Perspectives
In occupational health psychology, we often focus on demands arising inside the organization. Yet the boundary between work and the wider world becomes particularly artificial during a major crisis. What I find especially important in our study is the role of financial worries as a bridge between macrolevel developments and employees’ exhaustion. Organizations cannot remove the underlying crisis, but they can avoid adding uncertainty and help employees protect their resources. The unexpected decline in exhaustion also reminds us that crisis responses are dynamic: people may adapt, conditions may improve, and those initially most affected may recover particularly strongly. Understanding these developments requires research that follows employees over time.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Rigotti
Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR) and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Employees in times of crisis: Macrolevel stressors and their relationship with exhaustion and organizational citizenship behavior., International Journal of Stress Management, June 2026, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/str0000403.
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