Why are workers more anxious than ever? Glassdoor finds mentions of AI in employee reviews up 164% in a year

Employee confidence in the US fell to a record low in September, the third new low this year, according to the Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index published on 28 September 2026. The share of employees with a positive six-month outlook for their own employer dropped to 42.9%, from 44.5% in August. Glassdoor's chief economist Daniel Zhao pointed to what workers are writing: over the past year, mentions of AI in Glassdoor reviews rose 164%, alongside uncertainty (+84%), inflation (+22%), layoffs (+13%) and recession (+6%). The sharpest fall was in telecommunications, where confidence dropped 14.3 percentage points in a year to 29.8%, and workers' reviews cite recurring layoffs and restructuring, "pressure to use AI to automate jobs" and unattainable targets. Insurance workers raise concerns about AI automation taking jobs as well as AI surveillance, and media workers react especially harshly to AI as a creative industry. Entry-level confidence is down 4.1 points over the year while senior staff have grown more optimistic, up 4.6 points. The index measures sentiment, not job losses: it shows where workers expect AI to hit, which is often ahead of what employers announce.