UK employee confidence dips as a result of Brexit foot-dragging

28 Dec 2016

Six months after the UK voted to leave the European Union (EU), the process of actually exiting the union has proven to be complicated and drawn-out, and it’s starting to take its toll on employee confidence.

A specially-commissioned report on Brexit has found that less than a third of UK employees (29 percent) are confident in the UK government’s ability to negotiate good trade deals once Article 50 is triggered.

Six months after #Brexit vote and UK employee confidence is low. Read more: https://t.co/GoII8Xo7Ir

— GlassdoorUK (@GlassdoorUK) December 23, 2016

In its analysis of the data by region, jobs and recruitment site Glassdoor found that just over a quarter of those from the Midlands (26 percent), 25 percent of employees in the North East, and 23 percent in the South East have any confidence that the UK Government can negotiate a good deal for British businesses.

The South West region maintains the highest level of confidence at 38 percent, though still fairly low.

Those who are currently unemployed and looking for work are the least optimistic – they’re the group with the highest percentage of respondents who said they don’t have any faith in the government’s negotiation skills (41 percent).

When it comes to Brexit’s impact on jobs and companies, most employees (54 percent) believe that it won’t affect their jobs at the individual level. Up to 24 percent of the UK population, however, admitted that they were concerned about how Brexit might affect their employer.

UK workers are 'losing confidence' in the Government's ability to negotiate Brexit https://t.co/NTLdua5kiO

— The Independent (@Independent) December 23, 2016

Up to 35 percent of respondents are worried that Brexit will have a negative impact on their company, while 27 percent said the decision to leave the EU made them want to get another job.

Nearly a third of workers based in London (28 percent) said they would consider leaving the UK to work in Europe, compared to the UK as a whole (16 percent).

Broken down into regions, those in the Midlands and South West were the least inclined to leave, at around 10 percent in both regions.

Part-timers who are reliant on the UK’s growing gig economy are also feeling anxious – over six in 10 believe that Brexit will have an adverse effect on their work opportunities.

UK employees not confident of government's ability to negotiate favourable Brexit trade deal https://t.co/q9nHVBzknU

— IBTimes UK (@IBTimesUK) December 23, 2016

Commenting on the findings, Glassdoor’s head of international, Diarmuid Russell, said: “Although we’re in a state of pre-Brexit purgatory in terms of business impact, it’s clear that six months on those regions which backed Brexit now have little confidence that the UK will get a good deal.

“As things stand, just under half of the UK workforce believe that Brexit will impact their specific jobs. Already, over one in four Londoners would consider leaving the UK to work elsewhere in Europe.”

He also said that it would be interesting to see how the figures will change once formal negotiations are initiated, pointing out that “the clock is ticking”.

The Brexit report is an extension of Glassdoor’s UK Employment Confidence Survey.

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