Long Covid in the workplace

More than 3,500 workers responded to a TUC survey on the impact of long Covid on people’s daily working lives.

The survey reveals that, of those surveyed:

• Nearly 3 in 10 (29 per cent) have experienced symptoms lasting longer than a year.
• More than 9 in 10 (95 per cent) have been left with ongoing symptoms.
• A clear majority had experienced side effects including brain fog (72 per cent), shortness of breath (70 per cent), difficulty concentrating (62 per cent) and memory problems (54 per cent).
• Over half (52 per cent) had experienced some form of discrimination or disadvantage due to their condition.

Workers told the TUC how they were faced with disbelief and suspicion when they disclosed their symptoms:

• Around a fifth (19 per cent) said their employer had questioned the impact of their symptoms.
• One in eight (13 per cent) faced questions from their employer about whether they had long Covid at all.
• One in 20 respondents (5 per cent) said they had been forced out of their jobs altogether because they had long Covid.

Read the report here.