Employees' psychological well-being in a pandemic: a case study during the peak of the COVID-19 wave in India

Subjective wellbeing (SWB) is associated with happiness and life satisfaction. Depression, anxiety and stress represent three different but relating concepts to poor mental health. COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the subjective well-being of employees during the lockdown, especially the employees relating to the tourism industry. Inter-industry and intra-industry comparison of tourism employees' psychological wellbeing during the peak of the second wave of COVID across India was done. Socio-demographic variables were checked separately for psychological wellbeing. Stratified random sampling was used for data collection. Data was collected through an online questionnaire using the WHO-5 wellbeing index and DASS21 scale for depression anxiety and stress during the peak COVID-19 wave. A sample from 93 employees was collected, of which, 55 employees were from the tourism industry. The results indicated that tourism industry employees as a whole and the employees engaged in activities within tourism had poor subjective wellbeing and were depressed and anxious. Depression and anxiety among tourism employees were impacted by gender and job experience. Employers must use the WHO-5 wellbeing index and DASS-21 scale for keeping track of their employees' happiness and life satisfaction and their poor mental health.