Nearly one in five employees (19 percent) are concerned they may be laid off from their job in the next six months, according to Glassdoor’s Q1 2013 Employment Confidence Survey.

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.

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.

The Glassdoor  Q1 2013 Employment Confidence Survey was conducted by Harris Interactive.

[Image courtesy: Glassdoor]