When Pandemic Fears Breed Lateness: How Safety Climate Protects Exhausted Employees

What is it about?

This study examines how employees’ fears surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic can escalate into a lateness attitude—a belief that tardiness is acceptable—and what organizational conditions can mitigate this effect. Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, the authors argue that pandemic-related anxiety represents a major personal resource drain, which may cause employees to conserve energy by disengaging from punctual work behaviors. Using survey data from retail employees in Italy, the study finds that emotional exhaustion is the key link between fear and lateness. When employees are drained by pandemic-related stress, they often justify lateness as a way to cope and conserve energy against overwhelming threats. This reflects an energy-preserving response to depleted resources. However, perceptions of a strong safety climate—visible organizational commitment to health and well-being—significantly weaken this negative cycle. These insights highlight that workplace culture plays a decisive role in preventing crisis-induced disengagement. Even in times of external turmoil, employees who feel physically and psychologically safe are less likely to justify lateness or other counterproductive behaviors. By fostering transparent safety practices and emotional support systems, organizations can maintain punctuality, morale, and resilience under pressure.

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Photo by dapiki moto on Unsplash

Photo by dapiki moto on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This research is unique in uncovering how pandemic fears, a deeply personal and context-specific stressor, can translate into subtle yet consequential workplace attitudes. By identifying emotional exhaustion as the mediating mechanism and safety climate as the moderating factor, the study extends COR theory to crises marked by pervasive uncertainty and fear. It provides a nuanced view of lateness not as mere irresponsibility, but as an adaptive behavioral outcome of emotional depletion—a perspective that reframes how organizations interpret minor withdrawal behaviors during collective stress. The study is timely, emerging from a period when global disruptions have deeply challenged employees’ psychological security. Conducted among retail employees—directly exposed to health and economic risks—it highlights the lasting importance of safety climate beyond crises. The findings urge organizations to treat health and safety not just as compliance, but as strategic resources that sustain engagement and reliability. In uncertain times, the study offers guidance for leaders to preserve commitment through empathy, protection, and psychological support.