New study shows job security still a major concern
One in three Australians feared losing their job by the end of the third quarter as a bleak economic outlook held sway in the country, a global workforce study found.
The number of employees who expressed redundancy fears in September is comparable to figures from mid-April when much of the world was only beginning to understand the impact of COVID-19 on work and everyday life.
The current number, however, is still much lower than the figures from late July – when nearly half of those surveyed (46%) worried over job security, data from polling firm CT Group showed.
Read more: Unemployment figures released
The current trend suggests an uptick in workplace confidence, albeit tempered by concerns over the country’s economic performance. Lingering fears about the recession, rising living costs and uneasy job market continue to dampen hopes for a full recovery in the coming months. This is true not only in Australia but also in the US and UK.
“I think it’s really a sign of the stress a lot of households are under at the moment,” said Catherine Douglas, managing director at CT Group, in The Australian Financial Review.
Despite Australia’s relative success in keeping COVID-19 cases low, compared with the US and UK for example, worries about the pandemic’s impact on employment and job security persist.
“Whilst we have this sense that Victoria is under control and there might be some confidence that we can find our way out of this, to have a third of respondents being concerned about their jobs is still extremely high,” Douglas said.
But with more workplaces reopening soon, returning safely to the worksite might hold the key to boosting employees’ confidence and helping them refocus on work amid the disruption.
CT Group analysts found about 40% of workers believe it’s high time their teams headed back to the workplace. Half are also confident about their employers’ safety measures at work.
