Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index: Unsteady improvements
Daniel Zhao
Chief Economist at Glassdoor | Aug 6, 2024
Employee confidence increased ever so slightly in July, according to the latest data from the Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index. The share of employees reporting a positive 6-month business outlook ticked up to 48.1% in July 2024, a small increase from 47.8% in June. Employee confidence has made progress since its record low in February, but it remains on shaky ground as employees remain anxious about their employers’ business prospects.
One possible explanation for weak employee sentiment is an overwhelming sense of burnout after the 2021-2022 labor shortages era being followed by layoffs and sluggish hiring in 2023 and 2024. In fact, as of Q3 2024, the share of Glassdoor reviews mentioning burnout has increased to the highest level since our data begins in 2016. Mentions of burnout surged, now 44% above Q4 2019 before the pandemic, and have remained elevated since Q3 2021 when the labor shortage era was in full swing.
Burnout is not just a function of how much business an employer gets. Employees also view it as a result of leaders’ decisions on resource allocation, and high burnout reviews report lower business outlook as employees lose faith in leadership decision making. In 2024, just 34% of reviews that mention burnout have a positive business outlook compared to 54% of reviews that don't mention burnout.
During the labor shortages era, burned out workers bore the brunt of being short-staffed. And now, even as workloads have normalized, many employers have pulled back on hiring, leaving many teams stretched thin. Ultimately, workers have been on a rollercoaster ride since 2020, and burnout may be one reason employees remain weary with and wary of employers.
Employees often blame burnout on management whether due to unrealistic expectations, lack of clarity or lack of support.
Employee Confidence by Industry
- Employee confidence in white-collar sectors like financial services (+2 percentage points year-over-year), information technology (+1.5pp) and management & consulting (+1.1pp) have posted modest gains as headlines about layoffs in 2023 fade from memory. Legal in particular has surged with employee confidence there rising 6.9pp.
- Construction and real estate are traditionally high confidence sectors, however, both have posted declines of 3.6pp and 2.1pp year-over-year respectively as higher interest rates bite and the housing market slows.
- Restaurants & food service has seen a modest increase in employee confidence (+2.4pp year-over-year) as consumer spending remains healthy.
Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index by Industry
| Industry | Jul 2023 | Jun 2024 | Jul 2024 | MoM | YoY |
| Aerospace & Defense | 52.8% | 50.2% | 51.1% | 0.9% | -1.6% |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | 41.9% | 38.5% | 38.0% | -0.5% | -3.9% |
| Construction, Repair & Maintenance Services | 60.4% | 57.0% | 56.8% | -0.3% | -3.6% |
| Education | 45.4% | 46.4% | 45.4% | -1.0% | 0.0% |
| Energy, Mining & Utilities | 56.8% | 55.0% | 53.8% | -1.2% | -3.0% |
| Financial Services | 54.8% | 55.9% | 56.8% | 0.9% | 2.0% |
| Government & Public Administration | 40.7% | 44.0% | 44.1% | 0.0% | 3.3% |
| Healthcare | 50.5% | 51.4% | 50.3% | -1.1% | -0.3% |
| Hotels & Travel Accommodation | 53.1% | 43.2% | 44.7% | 1.5% | -8.4% |
| Human Resources & Staffing | 60.6% | 59.8% | 60.4% | 0.6% | -0.2% |
| Information Technology | 52.1% | 54.2% | 53.7% | -0.5% | 1.5% |
| Insurance | 55.6% | 53.4% | 52.5% | -0.8% | -3.0% |
| Legal | 55.2% | 62.8% | 62.1% | -0.7% | 6.9% |
| Management & Consulting | 52.7% | 53.2% | 53.8% | 0.6% | 1.1% |
| Manufacturing | 47.9% | 45.4% | 44.9% | -0.5% | -3.1% |
| Media & Communication | 48.1% | 46.2% | 45.7% | -0.5% | -2.4% |
| Nonprofit & NGO | 46.8% | 47.4% | 49.2% | 1.7% | 2.3% |
| Personal Consumer Services | 42.6% | 41.8% | 42.8% | 1.0% | 0.1% |
| Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology | 45.0% | 43.0% | 42.2% | -0.8% | -2.8% |
| Real Estate | 57.4% | 55.6% | 55.3% | -0.3% | -2.1% |
| Restaurants & Food Service | 39.1% | 40.6% | 41.5% | 0.9% | 2.4% |
| Retail & Wholesale | 42.6% | 41.7% | 41.0% | -0.6% | -1.5% |
| Telecommunications | 49.3% | 46.3% | 44.7% | -1.5% | -4.5% |
| Transportation & Logistics | 49.4% | 47.4% | 47.3% | -0.1% | -2.1% |
Employee Confidence by Seniority
Employee confidence fell for entry-level workers in July, dropping to 49% from 50.6% in June, while remaining largely unchanged for mid-level employees (51.3%) and senior-level employees (66.6%). Over the last year, employee confidence has been weakest for entry-level employees, falling 2.5pp compared to drops of 0.9pp and 1.1pp for mid-level and senior-level employees respectively.
Methodology
The Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index is a new report that provides a real-time pulse on the economy from the lens of employees. As one of the world’s leading sites for insights on jobs and companies, Glassdoor collects tens of thousands of employee ratings of their employers’ six-month business outlook (rated as “positive”, “neutral” or “negative”) each month.
The index is the share of U.S. full-time and part-time employees who report a positive six-month business outlook for their employer. 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. Data presented at the industry and seniority level are three-month trailing averages.
Data on the use of terms and phrases in Glassdoor reviews is not reweighted. Term usage is normalized by the total number of reviews in the month.
Data for July 2024 is current as of July 28, 2024. In subsequent updates, we will revise partial or preliminary data from previous months.
To read more about the Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index, please read our launch paper.
Daniel Zhao
Daniel Zhao is Chief Economist at Glassdoor. On Glassdoor's Economic Research team, he has conducted research using Glassdoor's unique data on a variety of topics affecting job seekers and employers ranging from the health of the job market to pay transparency to employee engagement & retention. His work has been cited in publications like the New York Times, the Harvard Business Review and more. Prior to joining the Economic Research team, he also worked on improving the user experience for Glassdoor’s consumer jobs product and mobile app. He holds a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard College.
