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UK workers' morale falls as job loss fears rise

           
Talent Management Review - Q1 2009

 Nearly four out of ten employees (37 per cent) fear they may lose their jobs. This is up by 10 per cent in the last quarter of 2008 alone, according to the ETS Employee Survey of 150,000 UK employees. 

		   

Employees are now far less confident that their companies will meet their objectives -with numbers dropping to 57 per cent in quarter four of 2008 from a steady 84 per cent over the previous two years.



We've identified a sharp fall in employee confidence that started at the end of last year and we fear this will become a trend unless management addresses it effectively. People are starting 2009 with grave concerns about their jobs,
 said John Southwell, managing director of employee survey specialists ETS pic.


Company management needs to restore trust among its employees if it is to meet the challenge of returning to corporate health. Employee belief that senior management will tell them everything they need to know about the company fell 28 per cent in the fourth quarter. Employees are also less happy about how major changes, such as redundancies, are made and only 30 per cent now feel involved, a drop of 22 per cent.


ETS senior consultant Betsy Travis, said:
These are significant falls in key measures of employee confidence and they show how quickly sentiment changed at the end of 2008. I believe that employers who act quickly will re-engage their employees and keep productivity and morale high. This year is going to be tough, but even tougher if the workforce is demoralised.