Best and Worst Industries for Business Outlook in 2021

The UK economy shrank by almost 10% in 2020 due to coronavirus restrictions, confirming that last year experienced a record annual slump in economic output. However, the Bank of England’s Chief Economist has said the UK economy is like a "coiled spring" ready to release large amounts of "pent-up financial energy".

So should we be optimistic or pessimistic about the next 6-9 months? Given the grim economic news of late and the optimism of some experts for what 2021 has in store, how does the UK’s workforce view business performance and potential? To find out how employees feel about the outlook for the next six months, Glassdoor ranked industries with the strongest and weakest business outlook* according to employee reviews. When leaving a review on Glassdoor, employees are asked if they believe the outlook for their employer over the next six months is positive, negative or neutral. Glassdoor uses this data to produce a “Business Outlook” rating:

Top 5 Industries Where Business is Getting Better, According to Employees

It is clear that tech firms are weathering the pandemic well with three of the top five industries tech-related and 14 of the current Top 50 Best Places to Work are technology companies (the highest number of any industry). 

Some tech firms with the most positive business outlook ratings (according to employees) include:

Insurance is an industry which experienced a tough 2020, but is forecast to grow by over 3% in 2021. In fact, several insurers have very positive business outlook ratings including:

Industries With Least Positive Outlook, According to Employees

Clearly, the travel and tourism industry has been hit hard by COVID-19 and the national and local restrictions which have been in place since March 2020, as have restaurants, pubs, leisure industries in general and retail. 

British Airways actually has had the least positive business outlook of all employers in this study, with only 11% of employees believing the business will improve over the coming six months. Competitors such as easyJet and Virgin Atlantic fared significantly better in relative terms with positive business outlook ratings of 28% and 29% respectively. 

Debenhams is a classic British brand which has had a rough year and was recently acquired by Boohoo, with all stores to close permanently. No surprise then that staff gave a positive business outlook rating of just 22%. Sports Direct comes in slightly higher at 26%, followed by high street chains Lloyds Pharmacy at 28% and WHSmith at 29%. 

The lowest ranked food companies are actually all fast food chains:

When it comes to arts and entertainment, Cineworld, the troubled cinema chain, had a positive business outlook rating of just 27%. No surprise given that over 5,000 staff have been out of work since October last year. 

Employee confidence, in the form of business outlook, therefore varies significantly by industry, with computer software/ hardware coming in top with a rating of 72%. This is almost double the rating of the lowest rated industry, travel & tourism. As the UK lockdown starts to ease, it remains to be seen to what extent these lowest ranked industries and companies can bounce back. 

*Methodology: This report is based on reviews left by UK-based employees between 1st March, 2020 and 31st January, 2021. This report does not include intern reviews.

Industry ratings based on industries with 1000+ employee reviews and company ratings based on employers with 50+ reviews from 01/03/20 - 31/1/21. Overall, during this time period in the UK, 57% of employees feel their company's business outlook is getting better, 24% feel it will remain the same, and 19% believe it will get worse in the next six months.