While tariff uncertainty hasn’t caught up to hiring yet, American workers are not wasting any time airing out their concerns.
Employee confidence fell in April, with mentions of “uncertainty” surging 80% compared to the same time last year, according to the new data from the Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index. The percentage of employees who reported feeling positive about their company’s 6-month business outlook in April hovers at 45.1%, only slightly better than the record-low confidence of 44.9% recorded in February of this year.
“Workers [have been] feeling increasingly uncertain about their employers’ business prospects over the last six months,” Daniel Zhao, lead economist at Glassdoor, tells Fortune. Zhao found that this growing sense of anxiety has been compounded by shifts in the economic landscape. “Employees might be feeling like they’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, and the tariffs are a catalyst for uncertainty to turn into layoffs, but they’re not the whole story by themselves.”
U.S. workers have been dealing with near constant change over the past few years, including a global pandemic, subsequent return to office mandates, the rise of AI technology, and an increasingly tough job market. The latest hit came on April 2, when President Trump announced his plans to place a baseline 10% tariff on imports from all countries and sweeping reciprocal tariffs on some of the United States’ biggest trade partners, including China and the European Union. Since then, a 90-day pause was implemented by the administration, with the notable exception of China. Tariff uncertainty happening at the highest level of government has led to fears of a massive economic slowdown, which could affect things like hiring and layoffs in the future.
While much is out of workers’ control, Zhao says that employees can get ahead by planning for a worst-case scenario. That may include beginning updating your resume and starting interview preparation, or building up an emergency fund.
Leaders, on the other hand, can ease worker anxiety by going back to some of their COVID-era leadership strategies, Zhao argues. During turbulent times, being vulnerable, communicative, and even admitting to not having all the answers can lead to increased trust.
He believes that leaders are falling back into their old ways, after making strides with openness during the pandemic.
“Leaders were much more willing to be honest and say ‘We don’t know what exactly is going on but here’s what we do know, and here’s how we’re going to try to get through it together.’ And I think some of those lessons from the pandemic have been lost.”
