PHILADELPHIA, PA – American worker confidence is at its highest level in four years. Following a slight dip at the end of 2018, the national Worker Confidence Index™ (WCI) rose 3.6 points to 110.7 in Q1 2019, reaching its highest level since the study’s inception. The Worker Confidence Index™ is a survey of U.S. workers from HRO Today Magazine and Yoh, the leading international talent and outsourcing company owned by Day & Zimmermann, which gauges workers’ perceptions of the four key aspects of worker confidence: the perceived likelihood of job loss, the perceived likelihood of a promotion, the perceived likelihood of a raise, and the perceived overall trust in company leadership.

Comparing the Numbers

Overall, the index grew from 107.1 Q4 2018 to 110.7 in Q1 2019. This is the third consecutive year in which the WCI set a record in the first quarter for its highest score to date. Of the WCI’s four indexes, the job security index was the only index to report a quarterly decrease. The remaining three – likelihood of a promotion, likelihood of a raise and trust in company leadership indices – all increased. On a year-over-year basis, all four indices increased for only the third time in study history.

 Americans’ perceived likelihood of a promotion saw the biggest jump to start the year, rising from 112.7 in Q4 2019 to 121.2 in Q1 2019. Perceived likelihood of a raise saw the second-largest, going from 107.2 in Q4 2018 to 113.3 in Q1 2019. Perceived job security and trust in company leadership saw minor falls and rises, respectively.

“While companies can be satisfied knowing their current employees are content in their roles, it does provide significant challenges in recruiting. In times of low unemployment when a majority of employees are confident in their jobs and futures, it becomes more difficult than ever to attract new talent and recruit workers away from competitors,” said Kathleen King, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Solutions, Yoh. “In order to retain and recruit high-performing, highly talented employees in today’s competitive market, organizations must take a proactive approach to recruiting and employee nurturing by augmenting their own recruiting and staffing efforts with talent partners who can help craft a recruiting strategy built for long term success.”

Other takeaways:

•  Workers’ perceived likelihood of a raise and likelihood of a promotion both hit all-time highs in Q1 2019.

Both men and women continue to feel more confident about getting a raise, with 36.5 percent of men and 25.8 percent of women anticipating a raise of at least 3 percent at their next review – leading to the highest recorded confidence in a raise since the study was created in 2015.

 And while men continue to feel more confident in a promotion then women – a trend that has happened every quarter of the study – both genders felt more confident in a title change during Q1 2019 than they ever have in the history of the WCI. Respondents with annual incomes over $100k felt the most optimistic about the likelihood of promotion, with 29.1 percent believing a promotion was likely.

•  Worker trust in leadership mirrors 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer.

The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer reported that the credibility of CEOs increased by 2 percentage points in 2019 to 47 percent. Those findings mirror the WCI, which showed an increase in trust in company leadership during Q1 2019 from 103.3 to 105.5.

•  Men’s decrease in perceived job security leads to the only index to see a decline in Q1 2019.

In Q1 2019, the job security index dropped by 2.6 points to 102.6, very near to the study’s index average of 102.8. Women continued to report higher levels of job security confidence than their counterparts, with the percentage of men who felt that they would lose their job increasing in Q1 2019 from 10.3% to 12.9%, driving the overall decline in perceived job security.

To view the entire study, please visit, http://www.yoh.com/hro-today-employee-well-being-study.

About Yoh:  For over 70 years, Yoh has provided the talent needed for the jobs and projects critical to our clients’ success by providing comprehensive workforce solutions that focus on Aerospace and Defense, Engineering, Health Care, Life Sciences, Information Technology and Telecommunications. Yoh fulfills immediate resource needs and delivers enterprise workforce solutions, including Managed Services, Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Vendor Management Systems, Independent Contractor Compliance, and Payroll Services. For more information, visit Yoh.com.