Employee confidence in the future of their companies saw a drop in the first quarter of 2010,after witnessing a rise in the past year,a study by global HR solutions provider Kenexa says. According to the study,the global employee confidence index score saw a decline to 93.8 in the first quarter ended March this year from 98 in the fourth quarter ended December,2009. The confidence index measures the degree of faith employees have in their employers' marketplace competitiveness and their own careers. A high level in the index is achieved when employees perceive their firms as being effectively managed and competitively positioned and believe they have a promising future with their company,as well job security and skills that are attractive to other employers. All the 12 countries tracked by the research arm of Kenexa except one,Spain,saw a decline in their employee confidence in the quarter under review. Employee confidence in China dropped to 99.8 in the first quarter of this year from 105.6 in Q4 of 2009. Other countries which reported high levels of employee confidence despite a decline with respect to the previous quarter include Italy (98.6),Canada and Brazil (97.5). On the other hand,France (92.2),Japan (91.8) and the United Kingdom (91) reported the lowest levels. The United States' employee confidence index score was 92.4,down from 97.1 in the previous period. "In the first quarter of 2010,we see a decline in employee confidence scores. This can be attributed to employees around the globe feeling less favourable toward their firms' internal operations,including having confidence in company future,believing that work is being well-led and effectively managed and believing their firm produces high quality products and services," Kenexa Research Institute consultant Anne Herman said. "This trend suggests employees may have been lenient in their assessment of their organisations' leadership over the past year. Given the length of the recent recession,their patience may be wearing a bit thin and this leniency may not continue into 2010," Herman added. Despite reporting one of the highest levels of employee confidence in 2009,Brazil saw the largest decline in the first quarter of 2010,down 10 points from the previous quarter. The index is measured quarterly using opinions from workers in Brazil,Canada,China,France,Germany,India,Italy,Japan,Russia,Spain,the United Kingdom and United States.
