Embracing employee vulnerability: Individual differences in infectability shape employee engagement

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a significant impact on employees' work patterns and work experiences worldwide. However, it remains unclear whether some employees fared worse than others during the pandemic and what role of individual differences in vulnerability played in shaping work engagement. Drawing from evolutionary psychology literature on the behavioral immune system, we argue that a fundamental factor in how employees coped with the pandemic is the extent to which they perceived themselves as vulnerable to infectious diseases. Employees with higher susceptibility to infectious diseases were expected to upregulate concerns about workplace safety and to engage less with their work during the pandemic, as a functionally avoidant response to the COVID-19 threats. Additionally, we argued that a health-oriented leadership style could decrease safety concerns and increase work engagement, especially for the most vulnerable employees. To test these assumptions, we conducted a three-wave field survey and a scenario experiment with parallel designs on working adults in the United Kingdom at different stages of the pandemic. The results partially supported our predictions. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for fostering a safe and healthy post-pandemic workplace, especially for the most vulnerable employees.