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Industry News

 

Increase in Employee Confidence Not Sustained in the Third Quarter 2009

Thursday November 19, 2009

 

Wayne, Pa. — Nov. 19

Kenexa, a global provider of talent management and retention solutions, announced the results of its employee confidence study, a quarterly measure of worker opinions and a component of the forthcoming Kenexa Composite.

Employee confidence has been found to relate to multiple economic and business performance outcomes at the individual, organizational, industry and country levels, as well as being predictive of consumer confidence.

A high level of employee confidence is achieved when employees perceive their organization as being effectively managed and competitively positioned, and believe they have a promising future with their organization, job security and skills that are attractive to other employers. Employee confidence influences individual behavior and has implications for organizational performance and economic conditions.

In September 2009, the global employee confidence index score was 97.9. Brazil (105.3), China (102.8) and India (100.2) had the highest levels of employee confidence, while Germany (96.7), Japan (95.6) and Spain (93.3) had the lowest levels. The United States’ employee confidence index score was 97.7.

The largest declines in the 2009 third quarter employee confidence levels compared to the second quarter were registered in France, followed by Spain and Germany. Only three countries, China, India and Brazil, are at or above the employee confidence levels first measured in second quarter 2008.

Anne Herman, research consultant at Kenexa Research Institute, stated, “Globally, there was approximately a 1 point decline in the third quarter 2009, compared to a 5 point improvement in the second quarter. China and India sustained and built very slightly on the improvements seen in the second quarter of 2009, while Japan reversed a second quarter downward trend.”

Herman continued, “While the second quarter of 2009 showed a global economy rebounding strongly, the third quarter employee confidence scores indicate that recovery is not going to be a straight line of positively improving results. Nine of the 12 studied countries show third-quarter declines compared to second quarter of 2009. The positive news is that none of the countries completely lost the gains made in the second quarter, but the new data suggest that the amount of improvement seen in the second quarter was not sustainable in this economic environment. This is a bit like three steps forward and one step back.”

For more info: http://www.kenexa.com