Poll Finds Workers Worried, Not Distracted

More American workers are worried about the rising unemployment rate and job security overall. But most aren’t distracted from their jobs.

More than four-fifths of workers said they are at least as productive at work as they were before the Sept. 11 attacks, with 8% saying they are even more productive.

This was according to a new nationwide phone survey of 1,000 workers conducted from Sept. 28 to Oct. 18.

“I was surprised by the resiliency. People are not as distracted as I thought they would be,” said Carl E. Van Horn, professor and director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workplace Development at Rutgers University, which, with the University of Connecticut, conducted the research.

However, the closer people’s workplaces are to ground zero, the farther many seem to feel from their old productivity levels.

Six percent nationally say they are accomplishing half or less of their work than before the attack, and 10% said they’re accomplishing only three-quarters of it.