The Impact of Covid 19 on Job Security and Psychological Wellbeing among Textile Employees in Tiruppur District

The purpose of the study is to examine the impact of the pandemic situation created by Covid 19 on job security and the subsequent effect it has on the psychological wellbeing of employees in the Textile Industry in the Tiruppur district of Tamilnadu. Job security is an important factor for promoting employee job satisfaction and is also associated with employee physical and mental health. Hence there is a need to examine the impact of Covid 19 on job security and the psychological wellbeing of employees. The respondents for the study include supervisory staff and the sample size is 104, collected by convenience sampling method. Data were analysed using SPSS and the statistical techniques employed are correlation and regression. The results have confirmed the employee concern with job security factors due to Covid 19 having a significant impact on their psychological well-being.


Introduction
Covid 19 has had a devastating effect on most sectors of the economy and the textile units in the district of Tiruppur has also seen a setback. The industry is hugely labour intensive, with its products catering to both domestic and international markets. The pandemic environment coupled with lockdown restrictions saw most shops selling textile products closed for a longer span leading to almost nil purchase and reduced demand. The reduction in both domestic demand and export orders forces the industry to reduce the supply, which means less production requiring a lesser number of employees to be employed in their manufacturing units. This situation makes employees develop a sense of insecurity regarding their jobs as they are uncertain of whom the management will retain and who will be shown the door. Though the government eases the lockdown restrictions, the demand for textile products has not seen a great surge forcing the industry to reduce the output level (reduced output requires a lesser number of employees), which is detrimental to the job security of the employees in textile units. When an employee finds their job security under threat, it keeps them worried about their future income, reduces their motivation level and leads to anxiety and depression affecting their psychological wellbeing Ferrie et al., (2002). Besides, job security is also a determinant of employee job satisfaction.

Shanlax
International Journal of Management s h a n l a x # S I N C E 1 9 9 0 With job security proven to affect the psychological wellbeing of employees and enhancing job satisfaction, this research work has explored the impact of Covid 19 on issues related to job security and the subsequent effect it has on the psychological wellbeing of the employees in the Textile units of Tiruppur.
Threat to job security is one of the causes of psychosocial hazards for employees at the workplace. When employees sense their job to be under threat, they undergo enormous stress, which affects their physical and mental health and also organisational productivity. For an employee, their job is a tool that satisfies their physiological (economic, safety) and psychological needs (social, self-esteem and self-actualization). Any threat to the job puts their source of need satisfaction at risk affecting their physiological and psychological wellbeing.
Job security is subjective and varies with individual employees. The same environment may be perceived by some employees as a threat to their jobs and others may feel confident. This study has examined the employee perception towards job security in the environment created by Covid 19 pandemic and its impact on their psychological wellbeing.

Need for the Study
Organisational productivity depends upon employee wellbeing and job satisfaction. Job security is established as a predictor of job satisfaction and its relationship with the physical and mental health of employees makes it significant to explore the impact of the challenges posed to the organisational environment by Covid 19 pandemic for the threat it has created to the jobs of the employees which subsequently affects their psychological wellbeing.

Objectives of the Study
• To investigate the impact of concerns related to job security on the psychological wellbeing of employees. • To investigate the impact of job security on employee job satisfaction. Kuhnert et al. (1989) involved employees from US-based manufacturing organisations in which job security was established as a factor vital for maintaining employee health. Witte (1999) have established job insecurity as a cause of Psychological distress and confirmed job insecurity as a work stressor. Ferrie et al. (2002), in their investigation conducted among London based office staff, reported job insecurity to affect employee health and psychiatric wellbeing. Silla et al. (2008) explored the relationship between job insecurity and employee wellbeing among Belgian employees. The results have confirmed job insecurity as positively related to psychological distress. Lastad et al. (2019) investigated the negative consequences arising due to job insecurity. The negative consequences are physical and psychological setbacks, interference in work-home balance. The results proved job insecurity as leading to negative consequences. The job satisfaction of employees in the Information Technology industry due to Covid 19 was taken up for exploration by Arora & Vyas (2020), in which it was proven that job security as a factor least affected job satisfaction, whereas working conditions and interpersonal relations affected satisfaction the most. The impact of Covid 19 on the job security of employees in the UK horse racing industry was analysed by Davies et al. (2020) and the results of the study established the prevalence of job security as positive among administrative staff. Still, the same was negative with trainers and part-time staff. In the work of Kaushik & Guleria (2020), the authors have analysed the workplace changes due to Covid 19 with special emphasis on the positive and negative aspects of work from home and the employee performance resulting from work from home. The conclusion drawn from the study supported work from home as an effective measure that helps to sustain the business, but it cannot be seen as a solution for all the organisational problems. Pacheco et al. (2020) explored Covid 19 on job security and the relation between job security and employee wellbeing among Canadian workers. The researchers have found low job security and higher distress level among marginalised workers. The well-being of the workers can be enhanced by the organisation through disaster preparedness and by building social capital. Meyer et al. (2021) found the psychological health of working women to be worst affected by Covid 19 in comparison with men. The study has taken the stand that the combined effects of individual Shanlax International Journal of Management s h a n l a x # S I N C E 1 9 9 0 demand, job demand and pandemic related demands lead to exhaustion among employees. The level of exhaustion was high among women affecting their wellbeing.

Hypothesis
H 1 : There is a significant relationship between employee concern with job security due to Covid 19 and their anxiety level.
H 2 : There is a significant relationship between employee concern with job security due to Covid 19 and their depression level.
H 3 : There is a significant relationship between employee concern with job security due to Covid 19 and their motivation level.
H 4 : There is a significant relationship between employee concern with job security due to Covid 19 and maintenance of an interpersonal relationship.
H 5 : There is a significant relationship between employee concern with job security due to Covid 19 and job satisfaction.

Research Methodology Sample
The respondents for the study are supervisory staff employed in the textile units of Tiruppur. The sample size is 104. A convenience sampling method was employed in this work. The questionnaire was constructed and personally administered to the respondents.

Job Security Measures
Employee opinion on Job Security was measured on 5 dimensions (chance for job loss, chance for job opportunities, revival of future job opportunities, loss of income and uncertainty in income) using a 3 point Likert Scale in which employees expressed their rating as follows -1 for high, 2 for moderate and 3 for low.

Psychological Wellbeing
The measure of Psychological wellbeing includes -level of anxiety, depression, level of motivation, level of interpersonal relation with coworkers and job satisfaction). Employees rated the attributes on a 3 point Likert scale in which 1 stood for high, 2 for moderate and 3 for low.

Tools for Data Analysis
Data were analysed by Correlation and regression analysis using SPSS. Level of job satisfaction 28 68 8

Descriptive Statistics
Shanlax International Journal of Management s h a n l a x # S I N C E 1 9 9 0

Findings
The correlation coefficient value from Table  2 indicates a strong positive relationship with employee concern with job security due to Covid 19 and the dimensions of their psychological wellbeing (anxiety, depression, motivation, interpersonal relation and job satisfaction).
The significance value (.000) from tables 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 is less than the established level of significance at 5% (.05), which support acceptance of hypothesis H1, H2, H3, H4 & H5. It is proved that employee concern with issues related to job security due to Covid 19 is significant about their level of anxiety, depression, motivation level, level of maintaining their interpersonal relationship and job satisfaction.

Shanlax
International Journal of Management s h a n l a x # S I N C E 1 9 9 0 In table 3, the R 2 value for employee anxiety level is at .854 (85.4%), indicating that employee concern with job security accounts for an 85.4% variation in the anxiety level of employees. The R 2 value from table 4 for depression level is .831 (83.1%), which indicates job security concerns as accounting for 83.1% variation in the depression level of employees. The R 2 value from table 5 at .851 (85.1%) indicates that employee concern with job security accounts for 85.1% changes in their motivation level. The R 2 value in table 6 at .722 (72.2%) signifies job security concerns of employees accounts for 72.2% variation in their maintenance of an interpersonal relationship. The R 2 value in table 7 at .644 (64.4%) signifies employee concern with job security accountable for 64.4% variation in their job satisfaction level.

Conclusion
Covid 19 pandemic has created serious apprehensions among employees in the textile industry of Tiruppur concerning the various aspects of job security. A vast majority of the employees have reported the chance of job loss as high and moderate and their opinion towards the revival of job opportunities in future is also bleak. The response towards loss of income and income uncertainty also is high. The result has also confirmed the threat to job security due to Covid 19 as having a significant impact on the psychological well-being of the employees and affects their job satisfaction.