SAUSALITO, CA — (Marketwired) — 04/05/13 — While consumer confidence edged up in March to its highest level since November, employment confidence in the first quarter of 2013 falters. According to Glassdoor-s (1), conducted by Harris Interactive, nearly one in five employees(2) (19 percent) are concerned they may be laid off from their job in the next six months, and one in four employees (25 percent) including those who are self-employed, think it is unlikely they would be able to find a job in the next six months that matches their experience and current compensation should they lose their current job. Those unemployed but looking for work are less optimistic this quarter as 31 percent think it is likely they could find a job matched to their experience and compensation levels in the next six months, down six points from the last quarter.
However, despite layoff and re-hire probability concerns, nearly half of employees (45 percent) including those who are self-employed believe their company-s business outlook will improve in the next six months, 45 percent expect it to stay the same and nine percent expect it to get worse. Expectations for a pay or cost-of-living increase in the next 12 months remains relatively unchanged as 39 percent expect an increase.
When it comes to gender differences around employment confidence, men (51 percent) are more optimistic than women (40 percent) that their company-s business will perform better in the next six months. Men (44 percent) also continue to be more optimistic than women (34 percent) about a pay raise or cost-of-living increase in the next 12 months. However, men (23 percent) are more concerned than women (14 percent) that they could be laid off in the next six months. The report also highlights that men are increasingly worried about layoffs as only 18 percent of men were concerned about layoffs last quarter.
Additional highlights from this quarter-s survey show that during the past six months, nearly one in three (32 percent) employees reported cutbacks at their organization. Of those who reported cutbacks, half (51 percent) reported changes to compensation or reductions in pay, up four percentage points from the prior quarter. Plus, 16 percent of employees who saw cutbacks reported that their company took away perks like commuter subsidies in the past six months, up five percentage points since last quarter.
Only ten percent of employees reported positive news at their company in the past six months, and of those respondents, 56 percent say their company awarded new perks (such as the option to work remotely, casual dress or have flexible work hours), down nine percentage points from last quarter. Other reported changes for those who reported positive actions included 37 percent who had their companies restore health and dental benefits, or pay and perks that had previously been cut — up from 22 percent last quarter.
This quarter-s survey also reveals the impacts that a variety of external factors have on an individual-s confidence in their personal employment situation. Among employees (including those self-employed) who report to be influenced by external factors, national economic news (38 percent), regional economic news (34 percent), new government legislation (26 percent) and indecision among lawmakers in Washington D.C. (26 percent) are among top factors influencing confidence in their personal employment situation.
Interestingly, there are several notable variances between those employed and those unemployed but looking for work who report to be influenced by external factors, including:
More than one in three (36%) of those unemployed but looking for work are likely to be influenced by monthly unemployment numbers, compared to just over one in ten (14%) of employees who say this would influence them — a 22 percentage point difference.
Nine percent of employees are likely to be influenced by social media (seeing other people-s status messages, tweets, or posts about their own job situations on social media or other online forums) compared to 26 percent of those unemployed but looking for work who say they would be influenced by this — a 17 percentage point difference.
17 percent of employees are likely to be influenced by layoff news and rumors compared to 28 percent of those unemployed but looking for work that would be influenced by this — an 11 percentage point difference.
19 percent of employees are likely to be influenced by the employment status of family members compared to 28 percent of those unemployed but looking for work that would be influenced by this — a nine percentage point difference.
Employees are more likely to be influenced than unemployed job seekers when new government legislation is enacted. Over one in four employees (26%) would be influenced by this compared to 17% of unemployed job seekers who would say the same — a nine percentage point difference.
“While employees are hopeful for the future of their company-s business outlook, they remain cautious as to how that optimism will impact their financial stability. In addition, that sense of stability is often influenced by powerful external factors — like economic news and layoff rumors — and as a result, today-s workforce is feeling increasing productivity pressure,” said Rusty Rueff, , who ran global HR departments at Electronic Arts and PepsiCo before co-authoring Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business.
: For more details including breakouts of survey results by age, gender and income level, please see the full Q1 2013 Glassdoor Confidence Survey Supplement: . Graphics highlighting quarter-by-quarter survey results, as well as various gender and age comparisons are also available. To request the survey supplement, images and/or complete survey methodology, please contact pr [at] Glassdoor [dot] com.
(1) This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Glassdoor from March 20-22, 2013 among 2,054 adults ages 18 and older. 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 Samantha Zupan or Scott Dobroski at .
(2) For the purposes of this study “employees” were defined as U.S. adults 18+ employed full time and/or part time unless otherwise indicated.
is a jobs and career community that is changing the way people find jobs and companies recruit top talent. Founded in 2007, Glassdoor offers members access to the latest job listings, the ability to see Inside Connections via their Facebook network, and get access to proprietary user-generated content including company-specific salary reports, ratings and reviews, CEO approval ratings, interview questions and reviews, office photos and more. Plus, employers can get involved in the conversation through Glassdoor-s suite of social recruiting solutions to reach target job candidates as they-re making career decisions. Glassdoor is backed by Benchmark Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, Battery Ventures and DAG Ventures. More information about Glassdoor can be found on its , and by following the company on , and .
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