Employees Believe Their Jobs Are Not at Risk

The number of workers who believe their job is "not at risk" dropped slightly to 47% compared with 51% roughly six months ago, while those who think their job is "significantly at risk" held steady at 6%. The findings are detailed in a poll, "The Continued Economic Downturn: Employee Perspective," released by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) at its 61st Annual Conference and Exposition in New Orleans.

The percentage of employees describing their job as "slightly at risk" rose from 31% in January to 35% in June while those who believe their job to be "moderately at risk" held steady at 13%.

"Although the economic outlook is slowly improving, the currently employed face recession concerns nonetheless," said Steve Williams, Ph.D., SPHR, director of research at SHRM. "The poll data reflect workers' perceptions about job security and the impact of benefit reductions and salary freezes in a weakened economy."

Job security remains top of mind for the still employed, with 56% reporting that it is "very unlikely" they will job hunt once the economy improves, a slight increase from the 51% who reported the same roughly six months ago.

Only 10% plan to job search or intensify an existing search when the economy picks up — a number unchanged from the start of this year. The poll shows an even split with the number (17%) of workers who report it is "somewhat unlikely" and "somewhat likely" they will jump ship when the job market improves. The numbers were nearly the same in January when 20% reported it "somewhat unlikely" and 19% said "somewhat likely."

The poll also highlights how employees are managing their finances during tough times:

• 83% — reduced personal spending/cut back on discretionary expenses


• 44% — decreased the use of credit cards/cancelled credit accounts


• 16% — increased the use of credit cards/opened credit card accounts


• 9% — actively searched for higher-paying jobs


• 9% — reduced contributions to employer-sponsored retirement savings plans

Other key findings in the poll include:

• The impact of changes to benefit offerings. Nearly one-half (46%) of polled workers said reductions to employer-sponsored health care benefits would have " a significant negative impact" on them while 57% said the same if contributions to their retirement plan were suspended.


• A description of those actively job hunting now. Only 3% of employees are "actively" searching for a job, while 17% are "passively" looking. The overwhelming majority — 80% — are currently "not searching for a job at all."


• Job risk perception if the economy continues to decline over the next six months. The responses are unchanged from January to June with 35% responding "not at risk" and 36% responding "slightly at risk while 11% said "significantly at risk". An insignificant change marks "moderately at risk" — 17% said so in June compared with 18% in January.


• The difficulty of the job hunt. In the last six months, the number of "actively job searching" employees who said that the current economic downturn increased the difficulty of finding a job nearly doubled from 27% in January 2009 to 53% in June 2009.

These estimates are produced using housing unit estimates.