Post-COVID-19 Challenges for Full-Time Employees in China: Job Insecurity, Workplace Anxiety and Work-Life Conflict

Background: Though the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, and our society gradually returns to normal, Chinese people's work and lifestyles are still influenced by the "pandemic aftermath". In the post-pandemic era, employees may feel uncertainty at work due to the changed organizational operations and management and perceive the external environment to be more dynamic. Both these perceptions may increase employees' negative emotions and contribute to conflicts between work and life. Drawing from the ego depletion theory, this study aimed to examine the impact of job insecurity during the post-pandemic era on employees' work-life conflicts, and the mediating effect of workplace anxiety in this relationship. Besides, this study also considered the uncertainty of the external macro environment as a boundary condition on the direct and indirect relationship between job insecurity and work-life conflicts. Methods: A two-wave questionnaire survey was conducted from October to December 2023 to collect data. MBA students and graduates from business school with full-time jobs are invited to report their perception of job insecurity, work anxiety, perceived environment uncertainty, and work-life conflict. This resulted in 253 valid responses. Data analysis was performed using the SPSS, Amos, and PROCESS. Results: The results showed that: (1) Employees' job insecurity would directly intensify the work-life conflict (B = 0.275, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.182, 0.367]). (2) Employees' workplace anxiety mediates the relationship between job insecurity and work-life conflict (B = 0.083, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.047, 0.130]). (3) The mediating effect of workplace anxiety between job insecurity and work-life conflict exists when perceived environmental uncertainty is high (B = 0.049, 95% CI [0.011, 0.114]), while vanishes when perceived environmental uncertainty is low (B = 0.024, 95% CI [-0.005, 0.068]). Conclusion: Job insecurity combined with perceived environmental uncertainty in the postpandemic era fuels employees' workplace anxiety and work-life conflicts. Post-pandemic trauma lingers, necessitating urgent attention and response.