A new survey by Glassdoor, a jobs and careers community, reveals that one in five (21 percent) UK employees say that they fear losing their job in the next six months. The Q1 2014 UK Employment Confidence Survey, conducted online by Harris Interactive among UK employees, monitors four key indicators of employee confidence: job security, salary expectations, job market optimism/re-hire probability and business outlook optimism.
While 21 percent of employees are concerned that they may be made redundant, in the North East and North West, one in four (25 percent) employees report concern of this. Younger employees (16-24 years old) are most concerned (27 percent) when compared to other age groups. In addition, employees concerned about co-workers being made redundant stands at more than one in three (35 percent). One in two (50 percent) in the North West report concern, while one in four (26 percent) report concern in the East of England.
When it comes to how UK employees are feeling about a pay increase, one in three (34 percent) employees expect to receive a pay rise in the next 12 months. Pay rise confidence is higher among men (42 percent) than women (24 percent), and significantly more so among employees in the East (43 percent) and South East (40 percent) of England, while those in London are less confident (24 percent).
While some employees have expressed concern over being made redundant and others expressed optimism in a pay rise, three in ten (30 percent) employees (including those self-employed and not employed but looking for work) report optimism that they could find a job matched to their experience and current compensation levels in the next six months if they were to lose their current job. Full-time employees (32 percent) are more confident than part-time employees (23 percent) when it comes to finding a new job within six months. Those self-employed (35 percent) are even more confident. Geographically across the UK, employees in Wales are most confident (42 percent) in finding a new job in the next six months.
As for how UK employees feel about how their company’s business will perform in the near future, one in three (34 percent) employees (including those self-employed) believe their company’s business outlook will improve in the next six months, while most employees (56 percent) believe it will stay the same. Only one in ten (10 percent) believe it will get worse.
More men (39 percent) than women (27 percent) believe their company’s business outlook will get better in the next six months.
