Employee confidence continues to decline, reaching the lowest level since data collection began in 2016, according to a March 4 report based on Glassdoor’s Employee Confidence Index.

Although other economic indicators are improving, workers are still skeptical about their employers’ prospects. The share of employees who reported a positive six-month business outlook fell to 45.1% in February, dropping from 45.7% in January.

Layoffs, in particular, appear to be driving some employee concerns, particularly in the tech and media industries. In Glassdoor reviews, mentions of layoffs are up 12% for tech employees and up 25% for media, as compared to a year ago. During the last two years, mentions of layoffs have increased 358% for tech employees and 214% for media.

“More surprisingly, discussions of layoffs in tech are actually higher in February 2024 than even during the worst of the pandemic,” Daniel Zhao, a lead economist and senior manager on Glassdoor’s Economic Research team, wrote in the report. “Measurably, layoffs (even in tech or media) are not as deep as they were during the pandemic, so why is discussion so widespread?”

Zhao pointed to two reasons. First, former employees who mention layoffs in their reviews, who were likely laid off, rate their employers’ business outlook positively only 10% of the time. In contrast, current employees who mention layoffs, who may have survived a round of layoffs, rate their employers’ business outlook positively about 20% of the time. This number has fallen from 25% a year ago, he noted.

“This suggests that even employees who were not laid off are becoming increasingly pessimistic about their employers’ prospects whether because of their opinions of the overall economy or their direct experience with anxiety, lower morale or burnout after a round of layoffs,” Zhao wrote.

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