Job security at all-time low - and the rise of IT is being blamed

The Centre for Business Research at Cambridge University has found that low job security is particularly widespread amongst professional workers, who feel that emerging technologies, new working practises and changes to workplace legislation are seriously damaging their employment futures.

Mergers and acquisitions (which, of course, are running at a very high level in the FM industry) are also highlighted as damaging job confidence for employees.

Dr David Lapido, from the Centre for Business Research, said: "There's a lot of change, a lot of churning, and IT has driven a lot of that. The development of IT has stripped out a lot of middle management who dealt with paperwork and processing. We had anticipated this - but didn't expect the speed at which it happened."

Adding to their worries, 40% of those surveyed had very little trust in their management and believed their jobs had become more difficult and stressful over the last five years.

"We knew professionals and managers were starting to feel some of the pain felt by manual workers in the early 80s, but its growth has been very rapid," said Lapido.