Confidence low amongst Australian professionals

Aussie professionals are anxious about finances, job prospects and career security, according to a new study

BY John Hilton 25 Apr 2020

Confidence is low amongst Australian professionals, according to new research by LinkedIn.

The study related to how Australian professionals perceive their finances, workplace and overall sense of opportunity in this current COVID-19 climate. The data looked at the period of April 1 to April 7.

It found that Australian professionals are anxious about finances, job prospects and career security. Indeed, 52% of Australians have reduced their personal spending during the crisis, with that number rising to 63% for the self-employed.

Moreover, it found Australians are investing time in self-improvement, including increasing time spent searching for a new job, spending more time finessing resumes and online profiles and taking part in online learning.

The nature of workplaces have shifted dramatically due to COVID-19 and will likely experience lasting change as a consequence. Indeed, many more workplaces will adopt working from home and flexible work cultures moving forwards.

Additionally, employees are currently being supported by workplaces with remote working and believe it will continue to transform corporate structures moving forwards.

However, it’s essential for businesses to continually check in on remote employee’s emotional wellbeing.

Key findings from the index include:
Low confidence

The Australian insights show that of the people polled confidence was +8 on a scale from -100 to +100, with positive sentiment just outweighing the negative.
Finance
- 52% of Australians have reduced their personal spending during the crisis, with that number rising to 63% for the self-employed.
- 36% of Australians report a drop in income and wages.
Job and Career
- With the Australian unemployment rate expected to reach 10% — or 1.4 million out of work — amid the coronavirus pandemic, job seekers are concerned about the future.
- 65% of respondents said they expect the number of available roles to decrease over the next two weeks, while 55% think responses from recruiters will also fall during that time.
- Overall, 27% of everyone surveyed across Australia said they plan to increase time spent looking for work over the next two weeks.
- Part-time employees are less confident than their full-time counterparts when it comes to job security and career in the long-term — tellingly, 28% of part-time workers say they will spend time searching for a new job in the next two weeks, but 68% are pessimistic about receiving a response from recruiters.

Self-improvement

27% of everyone surveyed across Australia said they plan to increase the time spent looking for work over the next two weeks
A quarter (25%) of respondents said they plan to also spend more time working on their resumes and online profiles.
44% said they’ll increase time spent in online learning over the next two weeks
Online learning was particularly popular amongst the self-employed, active job seekers and enterprise employees

Workplace change

66% of respondents say they are being provided with the opportunity to work remotely, with 63% confident they will continue to be offered those opportunities in the future.
But fewer than half of respondents believe they are being offered support for their emotional wellbeing — and, concerningly, just 15% of those say they are taking advantage of the support on offer.
Meanwhile, a third of respondents say they are being provided with the opportunity to work part-time or flexible hours, though only 15% of those are taking advantage of the flexibility.