Introduction Workers who frequently contact to public or provide close-contact service may have higher anxiety and depression levels, as they may be worried about getting infected with the coronavirus at work.

Objectives To examine the association of perceived risk of COVID-19 at work (including contact with people and close contact to public) with anxiety and depression levels among non-healthcare worker, taking perceived effectiveness of company’s preventive measures into account.

Methods This is a multi-city cross-sectional study in Hong Kong, Nanjing and Wuhan. We recruited 7391 non-healthcare workers who were aged>18 during 07/2020–04/2021. We used standardized questionnaire to collect sociodemographic, job-related information and their satisfaction of effectiveness of company’s preventive measures. Participants’ frequency of contact and close contact to public were collected and classified into occasionally, sometimes and often, and their anxiety and depression levels were measured using DASS-21. We performed multinomial logistic regression models to examine the association of frequency of contact and close contact to public with anxiety and depression levels. Path models were developed to analyze the potential modification of perceived effectiveness of company’s preventive measures on these associations.

Results Compared with workers with occasional contact to population, workers with sometimes contact were associated with severe anxiety (AOR=1.59, 95%CI=1.27–1.99). The AOR for workers with often close contact to public compared with no contact were 1.53 (95%CI= 1.25–1.87) for severe anxiety, and 1.43 (95%CI=1.14–1.79) for severe depression. Additionally, according to path analysis, the indirect path between contact or close contact to public and anxiety/depression were modified by perceived effectiveness of company’s preventive measures.

Conclusion Workers with frequent contact with people or close contact to public was associated with worse anxiety and depressive symptoms. Companies should consider effective and sustainable measures in mitigating the risk and thereby reducing employees’ anxiety and depression levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.