Die Coronapandemie: Gesundheitliche Ungleichheit und betriebliches Krisenmanagement: Ein Vergleich sozialer und technischer Dienstleistungen

Employees’ health status is affected by labor on variable levels. Compared to people with a high socio-economic status, people of low socio-economic status (e.g. low level of education, low level of professional status or low wages) have a lower probability of maintaining a positive health status and hold a higher risk of developing illness. Furthermore, different occupations (connected with specific qualifications and status) hold unequal risk levels for employees when it comes to developing illness. This is particularly of interest in times when a highly infectious virus is a permanent threat to everyone. The risk of infection varies with the mode of interactive work: Occupational groups with direct interactive work hold higher risks of infection than respective groups with technically mediated interactive work. Apart from employees’ health protection, organizational interventions for preventing infections have unintentional effects on employees’ health status, which – again – depend on their field of occupation. Drawing on case study results, this paper compares the organizational crisis management and its challenges in social services (nursing care and domestic care) to those in IT services. We also address crisis management’s impact on employees and their perceived working quality. We analyze whether the crisis management leads to a reduction of inequality and/or a deterioration of employees’ chances for a positive health status.