Worker Confidence Is Crashing. Here's 3 Things Leaders Can Do About It

Forbes

24-03-2025

American workers are losing confidence—and fast. According to LinkedIn's latest Workforce Confidence survey, employee sentiment about career growth, finances, and job prospects just dropped to its lowest point since the platform began tracking in April 2020. At +24, the score is even lower than it was during the early pandemic shockwave. For talent leaders—CEOs, CHROs, and HR strategists—this isn't just a soft signal. It's a strategic imperative. Because when confidence plummets, retention, engagement, and performance don't lag far behind.
We often treat confidence as a 'nice to have,' but biology suggests otherwise. Confidence, at its core, is a physiological state—one where the nervous system interprets signals of safety, trust, and forward movement. It's not just a mindset. It's the fuel behind how people show up, engage with their work, and contribute in high-stakes environments.
Right now, that fuel is running low.
According to the LinkedIn data, confidence in career progression, job security, and personal finances all hit new lows last month—lower even than in April 2020 when entire industries stood still. And while many companies have resumed hiring and stabilized operations, workers aren't feeling it. Their internal signals haven't caught up with external realities. That gap creates a drag on morale and productivity.
When people feel stuck—or worse, expendable—their capacity to take initiative, solve problems, or collaborate meaningfully starts to erode. That erosion becomes cultural before it becomes measurable. And by the time it shows up in your engagement data or attrition reports, the damage is already underway.
Talent management is more than counting hedas
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What's needed now isn't just better recruiting or retention tactics. It's a shift in how leaders at every level think about the experience of being talent in your organization. Just recently, the narrative was all about the Great Resignation. Now, it's more like the Great Uncertainty. Same challenge. Different symptoms.
If you're leading a team—or shaping the employee experience more broadly—here are three strategic pivots worth considering:
Psychological safety has been discussed for years, but today it needs to be elevated from theory to design principle. That means building environments—virtual and physical—where people feel secure enough to take risks, share ideas, and admit mistakes without fear of career consequences.
When economic signals are mixed and job cuts dominate the headlines, employees pay even closer attention to how leaders handle bad news, change, or disagreement. Your internal signals—transparency, consistency, communication tone—become amplified. Are you projecting steadiness or ambiguity? Empathy or defensiveness?
Simple practices matter. Consistent 1:1s. Clear feedback. Leader visibility. In today's environment, these aren't just management hygiene—they're strategic levers.
According to the LinkedIn report, one of the steepest drops in confidence came in the area of career progression. Workers are wondering: Is there a path forward here? And in too many organizations, the answer is unclear.
This is a missed opportunity.
Strategic talent leaders should focus on career transparency. That doesn't mean guaranteeing promotions. It means mapping growth opportunities—through lateral moves, skill-building, mentorship, and project-based work. Even small wins can create a sense of motion, which helps restore confidence.
Biologically, that forward momentum matters. When we perceive movement, even incremental, our brains release dopamine. That chemical signal increases motivation and reduces perceived threat. In short, it helps people re-engage.
Some organizations are investing in internal talent marketplaces to help employees visualize and pursue new roles. Others are weaving career conversations into performance reviews. Regardless of the tactic, the goal is the same: show people that growth is possible, even when the environment feels uncertain.
In natural ecosystems, organisms thrive when reciprocity is high. The same is true in organizations. When employees believe the company is investing in them—through development, autonomy, or honest feedback—they're more likely to invest in return. This reciprocity builds resilience.
Shared value isn't a slogan—it's a pattern of behavior. Leaders can demonstrate it by making decisions that balance business needs with employee well-being. That might mean protecting learning budgets during downturns. It might mean transparently discussing trade-offs in strategy shifts. Or simply acknowledging the emotional toll of uncertainty and offering ways to navigate it together.
When employees sense that value is being created with them, not just from them, confidence starts to return. That shift—subtle but powerful—is what transforms an organization from reactive to resilient. And it's not just a matter of morale. It's a matter of strategy.
Confidence doesn't guarantee performance, but it unlocks the conditions that make performance possible. People take smarter risks. They speak up sooner. They solve problems collaboratively rather than competitively. And they're more likely to stay—because they feel like they're building something, not just surviving something.
This is the core opportunity for leaders right now. Instead of asking, How do we retain our best people? reframe the question by asking, How do we help people believe in what's next? That belief is what fuels engagement, deepens loyalty, and accelerates the development of internal talent.
And here's the good news: confidence is highly responsive to signals. Clear communication, consistent expectations, visible investment in growth—these are not expensive interventions. They're leadership choices. When applied consistently, they shape how people feel, how they act, and how they contribute.
At a time when many organizations are scaling back, the leaders who choose to scale up confidence—strategically, visibly, and sincerely—will be the ones best positioned to navigate whatever comes next..