New York ¨C In the new COVID-19 economy that divides labor into essential and nonessential, truckers and parcel delivery drivers have become some of the most indispensable ¡ª and most exposed ¡ª workers as shut-in Americans rely more on online shopping.
Employees at United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. work in close quarters to load packages, and wonder about the risks they¡¯re taking with every box that¡¯s been handled by multiple other people. Truckers carry goods in and out of cities locked down by the disease and worry about how they¡¯ll get paid if they get sick.
Alongside a realization of the importance of their jobs comes anxiety about the peril, said Max Farrell, founder and CEO of WorkHound, a company that gathers anonymous feedback from transportation workers to guide company¡¯s retention efforts.
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