Source: theHRDIRECTOR
Date: January 2007 

According to the 2006 edition of “Putting it in Perspective”, the annual report produced by employee research consultancy ORC International:
• employee perceptions of job security are declining across all sectors
• only 53% of employees feel secure in their jobs.

Comparing UK employee opinions across industry sectors and trends over the last few years, “Putting it in Perspective” is based on information derived from ORC Perspectives – one of the UK’s largest employee survey benchmarking databases representing the opinions of over 1.4 million employees. A drop in perceptions of job security is particularly apparent across central government organisations, suggesting the end of the ‘job for life’ culture within the civil service. Results for other industry sectors, including retail and financial services, are also lower than in previous years, despite a fall in redundancy rates.

However, as perceptions of job security have declined, an increase in the number of employees intending to stay with their current employer is also evident:
• In 2006, 67% of employees surveyed within ORC Perspectives intend to still be working for their organisation in 12 months’ time – an increase of four percentage points on 2005 results.
• The highest results for intention to stay were in the retail and local government sectors. Employees in both of these sectors returned a result of eight percentage points above the norm.

Commenting on the results, Kate Pritchard, ORC International’s employee research manager said: “There have been major changes taking place across all government departments. In the private sector mergers and acquisitions have also become commonplace. It seems that in these less certain times, employees across the job market are feeling less secure than in previous years and this is having an impact on the inclination of staff to leave their current roles for the uncertainty of another organisation. Despite this, the war for talent continues to present a challenge for HR professionals across the UK market, making it as important as ever to ensure staff are engaged”.