Workers' perceptions of job insecurity: do job security guarantees work?

Abstract

We investigate the effect of employer job security guarantees on employee perceptions of job insecurity. Using linked employer–employee data from the 1998 British Workplace Employee Relations Survey, we find job security guarantees reduce employee perceptions of job insecurity. This finding is robust to endogenous selection of job security guarantees by employers engaging in organizational change and workforce reductions. Furthermore, there is no evidence that increased job security through job guarantees results in greater work intensification, stress, or lower job satisfaction.