COVID-19 pandemic disruptions to working lives: A multilevel examination of impacts across career stages

Since early 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted societies worldwide. As we moved from expecting the closure of society to be a short-term one to experiencing it as a longer-term phenomenon, we lacked understanding about how the pandemic has affected the working lives and wellbeing of employees in different life and career stages. Drawing from lifespan development approaches and Job Demands-Resources (JD-R), we considered the effect this profound disruption had on stress, burnout, and job satisfaction across career stages over time. We took a multi-level approach to the analysis of three waves of data. Disruptions were a predictor of stress and negatively affected disengagement and job satisfaction over time. We found differences in the ways in which people in different career stages reacted to these disruptions and adjusted over time. Job autonomy positively influenced wellbeing over time, however POS contributed to growth in burnout disengagement and exhaustion and lower job satisfaction over time. We discuss the implications of our findings for workplaces managing in the aftermath of external shocks going forward. •Longitudinal study showing the differential effects of the pandemic disruption on people at different career stages.•Stress, burnout (exhaustion and disengagement), and job satisfaction varied with career stage.•Exhaustion is found to affect all career stages; it is most significant for those in mid-career.•Disengagement is most significant for those in the earlier career stages; disengagement may precede exhaustion.•Job resources will not necessarily mitigate the negative effects of job demands caused by external shocks.