GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- A new measure of the Employee Outlook Index, started last month jointly by UBS and Gallup, finds little change in the confidence workers have about their own companies' future. Most workers give high ratings to their own companies' financial situation and say that it is getting better rather than worse. Most workers also expect that their companies will be profitable in the next month, but they are less confident that their companies will be able to grow. When it comes to their own personal work situation, most employees express a high level of confidence that they can continue to work for their current company over the next year, but only a little more than half are that confident that they will receive a pay raise in that time. As for the job market, workers are about evenly divided between those who rate it as excellent or good and those who rate it as only fair or poor.
The poll represents a joint venture by UBS and Gallup, an extension of a cooperative effort that began with the Index of Investor Optimism in the fall of 1996. The Employee Outlook Index measures workers' assessment of the current conditions of the companies they work for, their expectations for future performance, and their own job situation. Last month, the initial overall Index reading was 72, just slightly higher than this month's 69. The overall score represents an average of the present company conditions index (now at 84), the future company conditions index (70), and the job security index (53). This month's results show no significant change from last month.
The individual questions that constitute the Index show that employees are mostly positive about their companies' current financial situation, with 32% rating it as excellent and another 45% as good. Just 16% rate their companies' financial situation as only fair, and 6% as poor. Workers are somewhat less positive about their companies' situation six months from now -- 26% say it will be excellent, six points lower than the percentage who rate the current situation as excellent. On the other hand, 52% give a good rating to future conditions, seven points higher than the percentage giving the current situation a good rating. Thus, expectations for the future remain somewhat mixed in comparison with the current rating.
How would you rate your company's financial situation today -- as excellent, good, only fair, or poor?
How do you think your company's financial situation will be six months from now -- excellent, good, only fair, or poor?
|
|
Excellent |
Good |
Only fair |
Poor |
No opinion |
|
Today |
32% |
45 |
16 |
6 |
1 |
|
Six months from now |
26% |
52 |
18 |
3 |
1 |
Responses are more positive to the question about the current trend in the company's financial situation. Overall, 74% of workers say their companies' financial situation is getting better, while 16% say worse.
Right now, do you think that your company's financial situation as a whole is getting better or getting worse?
|
Getting better |
Getting worse |
SAME (vol.) |
No opinion |
|
|
2002 May |
74% |
16 |
8 |
2 |
In addition, 70% of workers express a high degree of confidence that their companies are "highly competitive" in today's market place, while 64% express high confidence that their companies will be profitable in the next six months. But the percentage who say that their companies will grow over the next six months is far smaller -- just 54% of workers say they are extremely or very confident that such growth will occur.
How confident are you that your company is highly competitive in today's marketplace?
How confident are you that your company will (grow / be profitable) in the next six months?
|
|
Extremely confident |
Very confident |
Somewhat confident |
Not too confident |
Not at all confident |
No |
|
Highly competitive |
34% |
36 |
25 |
4 |
1 |
* |
|
Will be profitable |
29% |
35 |
27 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
|
Will grow |
23% |
31 |
30 |
9 |
6 |
1 |
* -- Less than 0.5%
Employee Job Situation
The poll also shows that 78% of workers are either extremely or very confident that they can continue to work for their company for the next year, but only 56% of workers express that same level of confidence that they will get a pay raise over the same period of time.
How confident are you that you can continue to work for your company for the next 12 months?
How confident are you that you will get a pay raise from your company in the next 12 months?
|
|
Extremely confident |
Very confident |
Somewhat confident |
Not too confident |
Not at all confident |
No |
|
Continue to work |
44% |
34 |
14 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
|
Get pay raise |
28% |
28 |
21 |
8 |
14 |
1 |
When they are asked to describe the job market for people like themselves, just half of the workers rate it as excellent (14%) or good (36%), while the other half says either fair (37%) or poor (12%).
How would you describe the current job market for people like you? Would you say it is – excellent, good, only fair, or poor?
|
|
Excellent |
Good |
Only fair |
Poor |
No opinion |
|
2002 May |
14% |
36 |
37 |
12 |
1 |
Survey Methods
Current results from the Gallup/UBS Employee Outlook Index are based on telephone interviews with 692 adults who are employed with privately held companies having five or more employees, aged 18+, conducted May 6-9, 2002 and May 20-22, 2002. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
