Climate Change: Business Preparedness and Work Environment

Yuval Shlise

lOctober 2025

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Climate change is already affecting the domain of work, particularly in the context of ensuring a safe working environment for employees. A survey including 705 managers and employees across various sectors of the economy in Israel found that climate change has already impacted the work environment of 18% of the respondents, with significant differences between different industries. The main risks affecting workers are extreme heat and power outages. In particular, employees exposed to heat reported that while their workplaces are addressing climate change, they are doing so only partially and ineffectively. Overall, it appears that workplaces in the country are still a long way away from comprehensive and systematic preparedness for the impacts of climate change. Employers, the government, and labor unions must take proactive steps to develop clear, comprehensive policies and procedures, especially in heat-intensive industries, to ensure a safe and healthy work environment as climate impacts intensify.

Abstract

Introduction

The impacts of escalating climate change are also affecting Israel’s work environment. This paper is based on a survey conducted among employees and managers in Israel, examining their perceived exposure to climate change and how they are handling it.

About 18% of respondents reported that climate change has already impacted their work environment, while many anticipate various risks in the future.

Differences between managers and employees

The impact of climate change is perceived differently by employees and managers:

•                      More managers than employees reported that climate change has affected their work environment.

•                    Managers are more aware than employees of their organization’s policies and procedures for dealing with extreme weather events.

Differences between employees exposed to heat and those not exposed

The main risks of climate change concerning workers are extreme heat and power outages. According to respondents to the survey, the work environments most affected are in the transportation, hospitality, infrastructure, and industrial sectors. About 39% of employees are exposed to heat during their work, with the highest numbers in the transportation and industrial sectors. Employees exposed to heat reported that their workplaces are addressing climate change, but only partially and ineffectively. 59% of employees stated that their workplace has taken steps to address the risks of extreme heat; however, only 54% indicated that these measures have actually improved health and safety conditions. This gap may be explained by the fact that only 24% of employees reported that their workplace has established policies and procedures for dealing with extreme weather events.

We found that protection for heat-exposed workers is limited:

l  36% of heat-exposed workers reported that their worksite is shaded.

l  39% of heat-exposed workers reported access to an air-conditioned space to cool down during breaks.

l  Only 71% of heat-exposed workers reported having access to cold drinking water.

Summary

Climate change will not disappear. To ensure a safe and healthy work environment amid increasing heat stress, the government, employers, and labor unions must understand the risks and possible coping strategies, and develop comprehensive policies and procedures accordingly. This conclusion is particularly urgent for economic sectors with a high number of employees exposed to heat.

Introduction

Almost every year, heat waves in Israel set new records. Such was the case in August 2025, when record-breaking temperatures were recorded all over the country (Israel Meteorological Service, 2025). Climate change in our region is characterized by a significant increase in the number of days of extreme heat during the summer, alongside a rise in the number of flooding days in the winter. The frequency of such events and similar ones is expected to grow in the coming decades (Government of Israel, 2021). These changes also affect the domain of work, particularly in ensuring safe working environments for employees. Research by the Arlozorov Forum found that climate change threatens the working conditions of roughly 301,000 positions (Raviv, 2023).  But to what extent do employees actually feel the effects of climate change, and do they feel that their workplaces are taking steps to protect them?

To address these questions, we conducted a survey of 705 respondents in collaboration with the “Maagar Mochot” institute. Respondents included workers across various sectors of the economy and management levels. The survey was administered via an online panel[1] and therefore does not constitute a random sample. Furthermore, no weighting was applied to align the respondents’ distributions to that of the general population. The survey was conducted in April 2025.

The impact of climate change on the work environment is perceived differently by employees and managers. 

288 of the respondents to the survey were managers[2], and 398 were non-managerial employees. The findings indicate perception gaps: managers and employees reported experiencing the impact of climate change on their work environment differently (Figure 1). About one-fifth (18%) of all employees reported that climate change has already affected their work environment, with 25% of managers reporting such an impact, compared with only 14% of non-managerial employees. This gap may stem from a lack of awareness among non-managerial employees regarding climate change and its impact on the workplace.

The data presented in Figure 2 indicate that only 24% of employees reported that their workplace has clear policies and procedures in place to address extreme weather events. Comparing  the responses of managers and employees shows that 26% of managers reported the existence of such policies and procedures, compared to only 21% of non-managerial employees. Moreover, 18% of managers and 24% of non-managerial employees stated that they did not know whether such policies exist in their workplace. These data may reflect a lower awareness among employees regarding how their workplace addresses climate change.

Extreme heat and power outages – the main risks affecting workers

Employees were asked which risks arising from extreme weather due to climate change should be addressed in the workplace to ensure a safe and healthy work environment (a multiple-choice question). The responses indicate that most employees recognize power outages (52%), extreme heat inside buildings (50%), and heat while working outdoors (38%) as the pre-eminent risks.

Respondents report that transportation, hospitality, infrastructure, and industry are the sectors most affected by climate change.

The impact of climate change is perceived differently in different sectors of the economy. While 66% of the respondents in the accommodation and food services and art, entertainment, and recreation industries reported that they somewhat agree with the statement, only 29% of employees in the information and communication industries did so. The data reveal that climate change affects the work environment differently across industries.

Employees report the presence of policies and procedures for addressing extreme weather events primarily in the industries most affected by climate change. At the same time, the industry of local, public, and defense administration and social security leads in this regard, with 47% of employees reporting that such policies exist. It can be assumed that in this industry, which includes government ministries and security forces, clear procedures exist for a wide variety of scenarios.

Transportation and manufacture – the industries with the highest share of employees exposed to heat

We created an additional segmentation of respondents based on their extent of heat exposure during the workday. Respondents were divided into two groups: “Not exposed to heat as part of their work” (which includes employees who are exposed to heat only during their commute or not at all), and “Exposed to heat as part of their work” (which includes employees exposed to heat up to 2 hours, 2-4 hours and more than 4 hours per day). Figure 6 shows that 39% of employees are exposed to heat as part of their work.

The share of employees exposed to heat increases significantly in specific industries. For example, in the transportation and retail services industry, and in the manufacturing, mining, and quarrying industry, the share of employees exposed to heat as part of their work is 71% and 63%, respectively. Note that due to the small number of observations in each industry, the reliability of the data is low.

Employees exposed to heat reported that climate change had a greater impact on their work environment.

Figure 7 presents the level of agreement among employees that, in recent years, climate change has had a significant impact on the work environment at their principal workplace, broken down by heat exposure at work. The data show that employees exposed to heat are more likely to agree that climate change has significantly affected their work environment (25% agreed, 33% neither agreed nor disagreed), compared to those not exposed to heat (14% agreed, 20% neither agreed nor disagreed).

Employees exposed to heat report that their workplaces do address climate change, but only partially and ineffectively 

Among employees exposed to heat, 68% reported that measures has been taken to improve health and safety in their workplace, compared to only 53% of the employees not exposed to heat. Overall, 59% of all employees reported that such measures had been implemented. In other words, workplaces employing workers exposed to heat are more likely than others to take measures to address the risks associated with heat exposure.

However, when asked to what extent they agreed with the statement that the measures taken had actually improved health and safety, only 54% of the employees agreed. This highlights a gap between the actions taken and employees’ perception of their effectiveness. The gap becomes even more pronounced when comparing heat-exposed and non-exposed employees. Although 68% of employees exposed to heat reported that measures have been implemented in their workplace, as shown in Figure 8, only 46% of the employees exposed to heat believed that these measures have improved health and safety in their workplace, as shown in Figure 9, compared to 62% among employees not exposed to heat.

Limited protection for employees exposed to heat

Employees were asked about the protective measures provided by their employers to cope with high temperatures. In the analysis below, we focus on employees exposed to heat as part of their job. The findings suggest that, in many cases, employees exposed to heat are left to cope with the heat on their own. While a relatively high share, 71%, reported that their employer provides cold drinking water, the situation indicated by the complementary figure is disturbing: 29% of employees exposed to heat did not report receiving cold drinking water at work. In addition, only 39% of employees exposed to heat reported that their employer provides access to an air-conditioned space for breaks, and only 36% reported that shading is provided in their work area.

Summary and conclusions

The intensity and frequency of extreme heat events resulting from climate change are expected to worsen in the coming decades, undermining the work environment of employees in Israel and making it less safe and healthy. Data from the survey reveal a gap between managers and employees in how they perceive the impact of climate change on their work environment. Significant differences also emerge between sectors of the economy. For example, 66% of workers in the accommodation and food services industry reported that climate change has affected their work environment, compared with only 29% of the workers in the information and communication industry. The data further show that about 39% of employees in Israel are exposed to heat as part of their work. Among them, 25% reported that climate change has affected their work environment, while only 46% said that measures taken to address the risks had actually improved health and safety conditions. It appears that the absence of clear policies and procedures for addressing the impacts of climate change leads employers to take ad hoc measures when extreme events occur, and in consequence their effectiveness is questionable. To respond efficiently and effectively to risks that will intensify in the years ahead, the government, employer organizations, and labor unions must build professional knowledge about the threats and possible responses and formulate corresponding policies and procedures. This conclusion is especially relevant and urgent in industries where a particularly high proportion of employees is exposed to heat as part of their job. 

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[1] An online panel consists of a fixed sample of participants who take part in recurring surveys, usually via e-mail.

[2] A manager was defined as a respondent who reported having the authority to promote or dismiss employees