One employee in five believes that they are likely to lose their job, according to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD).
The CIPD’s Employee Outlook Survey found that public sector workers were the most concerned about their job security, with one-third fearing redundancy, compared with 17% in private companies and 22% in the third sector.
Staff were also pessimistic about their chances of finding another job should they be made redundant. Two-thirds of the 2,000 employees surveyed believed that it would be difficult and 8% expected it to be easy. Once again, public sector workers were the most concerned group, with 72% anticipating a challenging job search.
Additionally, the survey illustrates the extent to which employees are concerned about their standard of living, as inflation continues to erode the real value of wages.
Almost one-third of workers reported that their standard of living had worsened over the past six months, compared to 10% who said it had improved.
In the light of the findings, the CIPD has called on employers to deliver high quality leadership and management to support employee engagement and wellbeing.
Ben Willmott, senior public policy adviser at the CIPD, commented: “If organisations don’t invest in developing high performing managers, they may find better managed competitors racing past on the road to recovery.
“Employers need to find cost-effective ways of equipping their line managers with the people management skills to support employee engagement and wellbeing.”
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He added that employers should consult and involve staff during major reorganisations or changes to their terms and conditions to keep staff on-side and working together towards future goals.
For information on equipping management to motivate staff, read XpertHR’s line manager briefing on motivation.
