Is job insecurity holding your culture and strategy back?

Job insecurity is on the rise. In the UK, insecure employment has steadily increased. Health Foundation data shows a rise from 3.1 million workers in 2014 to 3.5 million in 2023. An increasing reality in many organisations, job insecurity is no longer a feature of low-wage and temporary contracts; it’s systemic. 

High-performing teams, talented leaders, and even executive roles are being impacted by uncertainty. 

In 2017, when we conducted a research study, ‘Does your culture support your strategy?’, we identified twenty-two culture barriers to strategic growth. Back then, job insecurity was deemed less significant than others, with respondents ranking it as one of the lowest organisational barriers to growth. 

But a lot has changed in seven years – and we expect to see a shift in the results in this year’s survey. If you’re a leader looking to build lasting performance, ignoring this shift is not an option. Understanding it - and acting on it - is a strategic necessity. 

Organisational change has become a key trigger to create job insecurity. A major French longitudinal study linked restructuring and downsizing directly to elevated job insecurity, even for permanent employees. Change, implemented without clarity and cultural alignment, breeds anxiety. This is where most companies miss the mark. They focus on operational shifts but neglect the patterns of behaviour that those changes create or disrupt. 

The pandemic wasn't a disruption. It was an accelerator.

In 2020, global uncertainty skyrocketed. The Australian HILDA survey recorded a dramatic spike in perceived job insecurity, from 11.1% to 13.4% in one year. UK data mirrored this, showing that 44% of workers in insecure jobs remained trapped in uncertainty long term. But insecurity didn’t fade with restrictions. It embedded itself deeper. 

Tech is the new redundancy trigger 

AI is now replacing tasks and redefining roles fast within financial services, customer operations, and HR. Layoffs in the tech sector are now a common occurrence. Yet the core problem is often missed: it’s not just roles being automated, it’s the relationships and behaviours around those roles that are being erased or neglected. Out of 1000 US workers surveyed in 2025, 43% personally knew someone displaced by AI, and 89% expressed concerns about their job stability.  

This breeding ground for uncertainty and anxiety, while inevitable, must be understood by organisations, which must reaffirm security across their employees to lessen the impact on overall performance. 

What's the business impact?

Job insecurity doesn’t just damage morale. It reduces innovation, slows decision-making, and undermines psychological safety. And when insecurity becomes the dominant pattern of behaviour inside your organisation, performance follows it downward. 

At Culture Impact, we often see these dynamics. High-functioning teams begin to stall. Leaders grow tentative. Silos form. The system slows, then slips. 

Culture is not about free coffee and hybrid policies. It’s the pattern of behaviours your systems and leaders encourage, discourage, or tolerate over time.  

This year, we have relaunched the Culture Impact “Does your culture support your strategy?” campaign.

It offers a great opportunity to reflect on your key barriers to strategic growth sitting within your culture. Is job insecurity one of those issues that holds you back? Let us know in this year’s survey.  

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