'Sense of unease' | Employee confidence hits record low amid economic uncertainty

Employee optimism about business performance fell to its lowest level yet, according to new data from Glassdoor’s Employee Confidence Index.

The May report found that 44.1% of workers expressed a positive six-month business outlook on the platform, compared to 45.8% in April. It is the lowest level recorded since Glassdoor began tracking the data.

Younger workers feel particularly exposed

Employee confidence in the government and public administration sector declined by 14.5% in the past six months, with only 34.5% reporting a positive outlook.

“Employee confidence tumbled to a fresh record low in May, spotlighting the deepening sense of unease across the workforce. Entry-level employee confidence also hit a new low, highlighting how younger and less experienced workers are feeling especially vulnerable,” said Daniel Zhao, lead economist at Glassdoor.

Glassdoor collects employee ratings of their employers’ six-month business outlook, which are rated as positive, neutral or negative. The company attributed the overall decline to continued economic uncertainty.

Uncertainty remains well above 2023 levels

In May, mentions of layoffs in Glassdoor reviews increased by 9%, and by 18% year-on-year. While mentions of uncertainty declined slightly in May by 2%, they remain up by 63% compared with this time last year.

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Additionally, the research found that discussions about the economy in Glassdoor reviews rose by 17% in May – an increase of 18% year-on-year.

“While mentions of uncertainty dipped slightly, the 17% rise in discussions about the economy suggests that broader financial pressures are increasingly shaping how employees view their future, regardless of how they feel about their employer,” Zhao said.

The Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index calculates an aggregate of the share of employees who have a positive view of their employer’s business performance over the next six months. The index is reweighted to account for changes in the platform and by industry to match a nationally representative mix of employee ratings by industry.

Glassdoor also reviews the terms and phrases used in employees’ reviews. That data is not reweighted and related terms may include different grammatical forms or similar phrases, for example, ‘uncertainty’ matches ‘uncertain’.