Redundancy Fears Amongst Employees Have Risen Again

New findings from the latest Glassdoor Employment Confidence Survey reveal that job security concerns amongst UK employees have increased this year. Data shows almost one in three (31 percent) employees are concerned they will be made redundant in the next six months. This is a five percentage point increase from 26 percent in Q1 this year, and on a par with Q3 2015 (32 percent). Confidence amongst millennials (18-34 year olds) is even lower. Nearly two fifths (39 percent) claim they fear losing their job in the next six months, up by over 10 percentage points since Q1 2016 (28 percent). The Glassdoor UK Employment Confidence Survey tracks four core indicators of employment confidence including: salary expectations, job market optimism, business outlook and job security. Business outlook to improve Two fifths (40 percent) of employees believe that business outlook will improve over the next six months, this increases to almost half of employees in the North West (48 percent) and over half in London. Across the UK, this is consistent with Q1 2016 and therefore remains at the highest level since the UK study began in Q1 2014, at which point the figure was 34 percent. Men are more bullish than women, with 44 percent having a positive outlook compared to 35 percent of women. Only one in ten employees believe things will get worse at their company in the next six months - a sentiment which is stronger in Scotland at 16 percent.   Job security on the wane Forty percent of employees are concerned colleagues will be made redundant over the next six months. More men (46 percent) worry about their employer making colleagues redundant than women (32 percent). This fear of redundancy amongst co-workers reaches 50 percent in Scotland, the highest in the country.

  Salary expectations remain high Confidence remains at one of the highest points since our study began in Q1 2014: 40 percent of employees believe they will receive a pay increase within the next 12 months. Men are feeling far more confident (45 percent) which is nine percentage points higher than their female counterparts. Although minimal differences across the regions, employees in the East of England (45 percent) and London (44 percent) are the most confident about receiving a pay rise.

  Job market optimism/ Re-hire probability Of those currently unemployed, 39 percent believe they will find a job over the next six months. Amongst those employed and unemployed, half (50 percent) of 16-24 year olds feel confident of finding a new job matching their experience in the next six months – almost double those in the 45+ range at just 27 percent. Across the regions, employees in the North East of England report the highest levels of confidence in when it comes to finding a new job (41 percent), ten percentage points higher than those in Wales at just 31 percent - the lowest in the UK.

  1 The Q3 2016 survey of 2,028 people, among whom 902 are employed full-time/part-time, was conducted online within Great Britain by Harris Interactive on behalf of Glassdoor from 19/09/16 to 23/09/16. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact pr@glassdoor.com.