Layoffs lurk like the boogeyman in the closet for every employee. When things are going well, we don’t expect layoffs are just around the bend. When things are going poorly, whispers of layoffs seem to bubble up everywhere. Being laid off is an impersonal way to have a job end, and it often has little to do with personal performance. They strike more like mini-disasters than like executive decisions, with people suddenly gathering their desk possessions in boxes, shell-shocked. We asked employees, poised on the brink of what some predict could be a 2020 recession, “Are You Concerned About Layoffs At Your Company?”
The information comes from the latest reading on an ongoing study by Comparably. More than 1,000 employees responded to the question.
More than two-thirds of employees of both sexes say they are not currently worried about layoffs. Women were even higher on this question than men, implying they have an even stronger sense of job security. This represents a happy change from the norm, but could be due to myriad reasons, including the fact that companies generally employ less women and therefore would hopefully cut less women in the case of layoffs.
Caucasians, long disproportionately prized than members of other ethnic groups, are the least concerned here about layoffs. Asian/Pacific Islanders and the “Other” category are slightly less positive, close to the overall score for male employees. Hispanic/Latinos and African-Americans, still largely struggling for their fair piece of the pie after decades of disenfranchisement, are slightly less secure that layoffs aren’t coming their way.
Executives and HR, two departments that would probably know if layoffs were imminent, are largely unconcerned with the possibility – only 24% of either group has any fears of a layoff. At the other end of the scale, workers in IT – who often respond more negatively than Execs and HR – are far less secure.
Workers aged 51-55 are easily the most concerned with the possibility of layoffs, which may mean they have begun to fear for their relevance in a job marketplace overrun with members of the younger generations. Oddly, that number jumps back up for the 56-60 age group, who are nearing retirement age.
When responses are broken up in the work experience level of the respondents, we see that numbers stay fairly level from group to group. Most confident are those well-ensconced workers who have been at their companies for between 3 and 6 years. Least confident are workers with more than 10 years experience – that feeling of being replaceable creeps up on everyone, logical or not.
Latest reading as of November 9.
