The Double-Edged Sword of Short-Time Work: Job Insecurity, Financial Stress, and Leisure Experience during COVID-19

Abstract For many employees, the COVID-19 pandemic-related policies triggered concerns about job security. At the same time, companies in many countries made greater use of state-financed short-time work (i.e., where employees could keep their jobs, work less or not at all, and still receive a substantial surrogate wage). Even though such a measure certainly helps mitigate negative financial effects, employees in short-time work can be expected to experience job insecurity and financial stress. It can also be assumed that the additional free time is not experienced positively in times of lockdowns and social distancing. Therefore, the effects of short-time work during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020 on employees’ perceived job insecurity, financial stress, and their leisure experience were examined in Germany. The results of a cross-sectional online study ( N = 343) showed that short-time workers experienced greater job insecurity and financial stress as compared to full-time workers. Furthermore, the perception of job insecurity and financial stress among short-time workers was negatively related to satisfaction with their leisure time (i.e., leisure experience).