Employee Confidence in Employers Sinks to 10-Year Low

Just 42.9% of employees hold a positive six-month outlook for their employer's business, the lowest reading in a decade, according to the Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index for September.

The figure fell from 44.5% in August, extending a slide that Glassdoor says has run for the past year. The index draws on a survey question asking employees to rate their company's six-month business outlook as "positive," "neutral," or "negative."

"Over the last year, employee confidence has continued to grind lower as anxiety around job security, economic uncertainty, and inflation mount," the report states.

The language workers use on Glassdoor tells the story. Mentions of "AI" in company reviews jumped 164% year over year. "Uncertainty" rose 84%. "Inflation" climbed 22%, "layoffs" 13%, and "recession" 6% — all of which, the report says, "point to a rising tide of anxiety among workers."

Glassdoor is not alone in flagging the fear. Recent studies from Gallup and the American Psychological Association have similarly found that artificial intelligence is driving American workers' fears about job security.

Telecommunications leads the decline

Of the 24 industries Glassdoor compared, telecommunications posted the sharpest one-year drop in confidence: 14.3 percentage points. Arts, entertainment and recreation followed, down 9.9 points, and restaurants and food service fell 8.3 points.

Glassdoor reviews point to recurring layoffs and restructuring, pressure to use AI, and unattainable expectations as factors behind the telecommunications collapse.

Only three industries gained confidence compared with September 2025. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology rose 6.4 percentage points. Transportation and logistics gained 3.6 points. Energy, mining and utilities edged up 1.8 points.

The seniority split

The decline is not evenly distributed across career stages. Entry-level employees' confidence dropped 4.1 percentage points over the last year, and midlevel employees' fell 1.9 points. Senior employees moved in the opposite direction, gaining 4.6 points.

"Entry level workers continue to face a difficult job market with limited opportunities," the report says, "even for the workers who have been able to find a job."

The divergence leaves executives considerably more upbeat than the newest hires on their own payrolls — a gap employers will need to close if the AI-driven anxiety documented by Glassdoor, Gallup and the APA continues to build.