The Employee Confidence Index found that in May, 44.1% of workers expressed a positive six-month business outlook on the Glassdoor platform – down from 45.8% in April and marking the lowest level recorded since Glassdoor began the study.

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

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

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.  

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

Daniel Zhao, lead economist, Glassdoor, said: “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.

“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.”

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 – this data is not reweighted and related terms may include different grammatical forms or similar phrases, for example, ‘uncertainty’ matches ‘uncertain’.