Psychological impacts of COVID-19 on Indian immigrants working in the retail industry of Auckland, New Zealand, and their job performance

Abstract

The Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had profound and historic ramifications on people worldwide. This research explores the psychological impacts of COVID-19 on Indian immigrants with temporary visas working in the retail industry, on their job performance, and on those who previously worked in the retail industry but are now studying again in order to upskill. Mixed-method research was adopted, which allows the researchers to explore the problems in-depth. Descriptive statistical techniques and regression analysis were employed to provide quantitative data results. Thematic analysis was used to identify the themes from the data collected through interviews. The research findings indicated that, according to the Kessler Psychological Distress (K 10) test, 84.61% of student visa participants experienced high to very high psychological distress as compared to 48.65% of work visa participants. Similarly, the World Health Organisation (WHO-5) test found that more student visa participants (80%) experienced low mental well-being due to COVID-19 as compared to work visa participants (48.57%). The research also found different factors which had adverse psychological impacts due to COVID-19 on work and student visa participants' physical and mental health. These factors included fear of contracting COVID-19 and the inability to visit family members due to stringent border restrictions for work visa participants. For student visa participants, these factors included job insecurity, fear of being infected by a housemate, changes to immigration regulations under COVID-19, and the inability to visit family due to strict border restrictions. Furthermore, the research found that 68% of student visa participants lost their retail jobs due to COVID-19's impacts. The findings also revealed that being able to access most job duties during and after COVID-19, a safe and healthy work environment, work stress, and fear of contracting COVID-19 factors were closely associated with the job performance of work visa participants. Therefore, the findings of this research demonstrate the need for implementing possible solutions to reduce the psychological distress of everyone, regardless of their visa status, which has emerged due to COVID-19, and this may also help improve the job performance of immigrants at work.