UK employees not confident of government's ability to negotiate favourable Brexit trade deal

Employees in the UK are not confident that the government would be able to negotiate a favourable Brexit trade deal, according to a report published on Friday (23 December).

The Glassdoor Brexit survey revealed that only 29% of the 2,028 people surveyed said that they were confident of government's ability to negotiate a good deal. The survey by the recruitment firm showed that even regions that had majorly supported the leave campaign had low confidence in this regard.

Region-wise, in the Midlands 26% of respondents said they were confident that the government would negotiate a good deal for British businesses. The figures were marginally lower in the North East and South East – 25 and 23% respectively.

The region that showed the highest level of confidence in the government was the South West. Here, the number stood at 38%. Meanwhile, confidence levels were also found to be low in the UK capital at just 26%.

The survey which was conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Glassdoor – from 19 September to 23 September – also queried respondents on their confidence in their jobs and companies amid a Brexit. It also asked if employees would consider leaving the country post the UK leaving the bloc.

It was found that 54% of the respondents felt Brexit will not impact their individual jobs, while 24% said they are concerned about the impact on their company.

With regards to leaving the country, only 16% of the respondents said they would consider it, but this figure was higher in London at 28%.

Commenting on the findings, Diarmuid Russell, Glassdoor Head of International said: "Although we're in a state of pre-Brexit purgatory in terms of business impact, it's clear that six months on those regions which backed Brexit now have little confidence that the UK will get a good deal. As things stand, just under half of the UK workforce believe that Brexit will impact their specific jobs. "Already, over one in four Londoners would consider leaving the UK to work elsewhere in Europe. It'll be interesting to see how these figures change once we enter formal negotiations, and the clock is ticking."