When extreme weather disrupts your employees' lives it doesn't stay outside the workplace, and new research reveals why climate preparedness is now a critical workforce equity issue
This article is part of the National Commission on Climate and Workforce Health’s series “Climate Prescription.”
Written by Dr. Leah B. Topper, a family medicine physician and Climate & Health Science Policy Fellow at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, the series translates the latest research on climate-driven health risks into practical insights for employers, HR leaders, and workplace health professionals.
As a health care provider, I’ve witnessed how extreme weather events impact communities and the people who live there. A little over a year ago, Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina. I wasn’t directly impacted, but many of my colleagues were, and so were their patients. I heard stories about patients who couldn’t access critical prescriptions due to closed roads or downed pharmacies. Others lacked refrigeration for important medications during power outages.
Those patients were also workers — parents, caregivers, essential employees — trying to navigate their jobs while their lives were upended. When roads wash out, power grids fail, or homes flood, the disruption doesn't stay outside the workplace. It follows people to work, or keeps them from getting there at all.
The National Commission on Climate and Workforce Health’s recent survey, in partnership with Northwind Climate, confirmed this: 1 in 4 people (26%) reported that climate-related disruptions outside their workplace (e.g. school closures, transportation issues, power outages, home damage, etc.) often affected their ability to work.
The burden, however, is not distributed evenly. Commonwealth finds this to be accentuated among low to moderate income workers. More than half (54%) of those earning less than $80,000 annually say extreme weather is negatively impacting them, citing effects on their work, financial situation, home or living situation, health, and more.
Climate inequity shows up along multiple fault lines, income being one dimension and race and ethnicity another. A new research study published by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health confirms previous literature that extreme weather-related health issues are widespread in the U.S. This study analyzed survey data from a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults to assess how events like wildfires, heatwaves, hurricanes, coastal flooding, and winter storms impact physical and mental health across racial and ethnic lines. They found that Indigenous, Asian, Black, and Hispanic respondents faced significantly greater health problems related to extreme weather events than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. The researchers conclude that we need climate change mitigation and adaptation policies to address these disparities.
Extreme weather events are a workplace safety and an employee equity issue. By preparing today, we can help protect your employees’ health and well-being tomorrow and ensure that your organization weathers whatever storm may come.
Want to help your company adapt to today’s climate conditions and invest in human and business resilience? Sign up for our monthly newsletter to stay up to date on the latest events, resources, and recommendations from the National Commission on Climate and Workforce Health.
The National Commission on Climate and Workforce Health is a group of business, health, and climate leaders who share a mission to protect workers from the health risks posed by extreme weather.
The Commission was created by the Health Action Alliance in partnership with Mercer and with strategic input from the CDC Foundation. Additional support for the initiative is being provided by Elevance Health and The Hartford. Learn more at ClimateHealthCommission.org.
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