Supporting Vulnerable Workers in 2022
After two years of pandemic and economic uncertainty, many people hoped work would “get back to normal” in 2022. But for many workers, the workplace wasn’t working before March 2020, and 2022 wasn’t much better. Although government jobs data suggests a rosier economic picture, Empower Work’s data shows that 70% of workers feel disrespected and unsafe at work.
Our mission is to change that by steering towards a radically new normal: healthy, equitable workplaces where people can thrive.
90,000+ workers in need
were supported through our text line and digital resources.
In 2022, Empower Work served 140% more people than in the previous year, increased our capacity to change the lives of millions more workers in need, and laid the groundwork for deep, systemic change in the years ahead. We were honored to contribute data and perspective to the rollout of a new framework for workplace mental health and well-being from the U.S. Office of the Surgeon General.
We share Surgeon General Vivek S. Murthy’s aspiration to turn workplaces into “engines of well-being.” We believe that when work actually works for people, individuals, communities, and our democracy thrive. There’s a lot of work ahead to realize that vision. We’re committed to making it happen and, while the deep, systemic changes are in the works, to ensuring the most vulnerable workers have access to resources and support to ensure their economic and emotional well-being.
91% of people
who connected with Empower Work reported improved mental health.
9 out of 10 help seekers
said they would recommend us to a friend.
Learn more about how we serve people:
How We Fuel Change
Improved well-being for less-represented and less-resourced workers at critical work moments via immediate, confidential SMS support.
Improved workplace practices as volunteer peer counselors use their 30+ hours of training on the line and in their workplaces, creating a ripple effect.
Systemic workplace change as our data and storytelling informs approaches, tools, training, & policy.
Who We Support
We help workers across every part of the U.S. — in rural areas and major cities. Those we support often feel isolated or vulnerable. The majority work in businesses or organizations with fewer than 50 employees. We ask for demographic information in post-use surveys to make sure the people we’re reaching match the communities that need the most help, and that our staff, board, advisors, and volunteers reflect those we serve.
78% identify as a woman
15% identify as LGBTQ
42% are under 28
51% identify as a person of color
30% live below the Federal poverty line and 60% earn less than $75,000
People in Tech (IT), Health & Human Services, Retail, Service, and Education
Transforming Lives in 2022
The Empower Work team is proud to have continued our path forward through challenging times, accomplishing growth and impact in each of the three parts of our model for bringing about change in the workplace.
Promoting economic and emotional well-being
When work doesn’t work for people, their entire lives are affected. Work is central to economic and emotional well-being for people and communities. In 2022, we helped more than 90,000 individual workers, an increase of 140% over 2021.
The primary reason people reach out to Empower Work has been consistent since our founding: they’re experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety at work, and feel stuck, frustrated, and overwhelmed. After what are often deep conversations with a peer counselor, 91% of those who connect with the text line feel better prepared to navigate their situation.
A real conversation from the line
“Kessie,” a clinic manager facing possible retaliation after raising compliance issues wrote:
“What’s helped my mental health the most is to know I’m not overreacting. I know that what I’m seeing is bad, and I understand I have a role to play in making it better. Now, with the help of my Empower Work peer counselor, I know what steps I need to take. And I know there’s someone on my side.”
How people feel after …
“Empowered, informed, validated, and ready to vocalize my needs.”
“More in control of my destiny.”
“Clearer about what I needed to do and with a game plan to do it.”
We know when workers like Kessie feel stuck, they search online for information and connection. To meet these workers where they are, on a bus or in a breakroom, we invested in new SEO and social media efforts to extend our reach. More text line users and blog readers found us through organic searches in 2022 than in any previous year.
Kessie found us through one of our blog resources.
“When I sat down to write a letter to HR about my situation, I was at a complete loss for words because I was angry and frustrated. I Googled, ‘I know it’s not right to do this. They’re gaslighting me.’ Your website came up, and I thought, ‘All right, I’ll talk for a little while.’ ”
A surge of workers like Kessie used our peer counseling and resources to move to a better place — empowered with a new sense of agency, information, and action plans that ultimately lead to more economic and emotional security.
Kessie wrote us, “My peer counselor helped me focus on the key points of what needed to be said. I wrote my letter to HR, and I now have a meeting with them to discuss the situation further. I know that the best way to get my message to my employer is by being knowledgeable and professional and Empower Work helped me process the situation so that I could act in a responsible way. In addition, they gave me information about some laws and my rights.”
Reimagining the volunteer training
In 2022, volunteers dedicated more than 5,000 hours of their time having conversations with help seekers and honing their skills. Our average volunteer tenure is about one year. As amazing as that is, we know that to serve millions more workers in the coming years, we need to increase this capacity.
So we streamlined training operations and rebuilt the volunteer training program to boost completion rates, get trainees on the line faster, and support participants to be more confident in their peer counseling abilities.
The new training program exceeded our expectations. The training completion rate rose from around 30% to an average of just over 80%. (Similar organizations set benchmarks for completion rates at 50%.)
And more than 88% of the respondents to our volunteer survey said they learned new skills they can use in their careers.
Extending our impact, we offer our coaching training to teams in other organizations, including YUPRO Placement, an organization that helps people with nontraditional backgrounds find entry and mid-level jobs. We help their staff deepen their coaching skills, which improves their workplace and enriches the services they offer to their community.
Michelle Sims, CEO of YUPRO Placement, said:
“Our partnership with Empower Work is an inclusive, holistic approach to workplace wellness outreach for our entire YUPRO talent community. Together, we expand access to career coaching and workplace wellness counseling.”
“I've really appreciated the ability to hone and further develop my skills in validation and expressing empathy. In my day job, things move so fast that we sometimes forget how important it is to let people know that what they are feeling is normal! I also have gotten much better at digging deep with my clients (and family and friends!) to uncover root causes and help people understand their own current state.”
— Chelsea
“Through volunteering at Empower Work, I realize that people often are looking for someone to just listen as they process their experience. I have learned about how to be more responsive to that need and better identify opportunities to validate, acknowledge, and champion others, as well as help people to recognize the role perspective can play in many of our experiences. In essence, as a volunteer, I have developed skills that help me further put empathy into action.”
— Ebele
“The most impactful part about peer counseling with Empower Work is being able to help someone with an emotional need, right at that moment. Sometimes, a texter is coming to us in a flurry of emotions and is going through their situation over and over. Over the course of our conversation, I can focus them, and help them figure out where the emotions are coming from. Seeing this transition makes me feel like I am really helping this person.”
— Cathy
Sharing data and stories
In 2022, we brought data and stories from workers to light in the media, in new research we published, and with government partners.
Empower Work is uniquely positioned to share insights from the trends we see, and bring attention not just to what’s happening with workers but also to the changes they want to see. One of the most common pieces of feedback we hear from people who connect with us, “I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”
In the four years since the text line opened, Empower Work has built a rich dataset consisting of over 400,000 messages exchanged between workers and their peer counselors. In 2022, we launched our first State of Vulnerable Workers 2022: Unsafe and Disrespected, which combines worker voices, survey data, and analysis of our impact, new trends, and workers’ persistent concerns. The report reinforced what we had seen across the last few years — that work, workplaces, and working conditions had deteriorated during the pandemic. In worker reflection data, for example, 81% indicated experiencing stress or anxiety caused by work over the past year, and 62% felt burned out.
When the Office of the Surgeon General decided to articulate its view that the state of the workplace is a public health crisis, we worked closely with the research team, sharing insights from our data, perspectives on the framework rooted in workers’ needs, and connecting their team directly with workers we’d supported. Workers who participated said they were moved to be included. They felt heard and excited that the government was taking action.
State of the workplace
Founder Jaime-Alexis Fowler speaking with Surgeon General Vivek Murthy about the Framework for Workplace Mental Health + Well-Being.
Behind the research of the Surgeon General's framework
Spread the word about mental health in the workplace
Learn more about how the state of work is a public health crisis
2022 Text Line Trends
One of the significant trends we saw on the line in 2022 was guilt. Of those who left a job in 2022, 17% reported feeling guilty about it, up from 5% in 2021. Workers noted that these feelings were tied to leaving colleagues and clients behind in situations that they were unable to fix. The pressure to change their workplace for the better, yet not being able to do it, hung heavy. So many workers want a new normal, yet it feels out of reach.
“I'm overwhelmed and overworked and, of course, underpaid. I'm thinking of looking for something better but I feel so much guilt wanting to leave a teaching position with the shortage going on.”
“I've worked here for 6 years and used to LOVE my job, but now I've just hit a breaking point that I don't think can or will be fixed anything soon. And I'm feeling guilty that if I do leave, I'll be leaving my design team and other coworkers in a tough spot.”
Despite improved economic conditions, the number of people mentioning concerns about job loss was similar to previous years. However, the number of conversations about unemployment insurance issues declined by 15% from a peak in 2021 when state systems were overwhelmed.
An increasing number of workers mentioned workplace challenges related to neurodiversity, such as ADHD, autism, dyspraxia, and dyslexia. We began tracking these for future reporting.
We supported more than 90,000 people through our text line and digital resources, an increase of 140% over 2021.
91% of help seekers said they would recommend us to a friend.
Roughly 1 in 5 texters in 2022 returned to Empower Work for a second conversation.
65% of help seekers reached us by text message versus web chat, a steady increase from 55% in 2020.
We expanded the scope of resources we provided to help seekers and doubled the number of people who received resources from 2021 to 2022.
Mental health, financial, and legal needs continued to be common issues for help seekers, but COVID was much less frequently mentioned than in previous years.
The influence of disability, race, and gender on work-related grievances remained prominent.
“I sent the email to HR and they canceled my meetings with the person harassing me. Eventually my complaint was substantiated.”
“Thank you Laurie [my peer counselor]! You honestly brought tears to my eyes (in a good way), and I think I needed the confidence to speak up to my boss and share how I feel as I leave the workplace. Laurie is very empathetic and I would definitely come back to talk to her if I ever had problems at work again (hopefully not though!).”
“Thank you for providing this space. It has been reassuring and helped me find a strategy for how to leave my job.”
Our support is confidential. Photos are stock photos to support anonymity.
Thank You To Our Community
Our game-changing work is made possible by the dedicated community of volunteers, corporate and community partners, champions, and supporters who believe, like we do, that we can create a better future of work. We are deeply grateful to the thousands of people who generously commit their time, energy, insights, resources, and philanthropic support to make our impact possible.
In 2022, support for our work included more than 5,000 volunteer hours, donations from a growing community of more than 250 generous champions, and pro-bono products, services, and PSAs valued at more than $1M.
Ongoing philanthropic support, paired with earned revenue from training and partnerships, help us keep the text line and volunteer training free, expand our outreach, invest in technology to scale, and realize our vision of workplaces where everyone can thrive.
Be part of our 2023 impact. Three ways you can make a difference right now:
Support workers, build skills
Contribute to our mission
Build your team’s coaching skills