Tech Workers Are in a Funk, Innovation is at Risk

This is a summary of an op ed authored by Glassdoor Chief Economist for Insider. The original article is available here.

For the first time in a long time, tech workers are in a funk.

The industry of innovation was long an outlier when it came to employee satisfaction. The promise of outsized productivity gains allowed the tech sector to offer its employees a rare combination of generous compensation and benefits, while also protecting work-life balance – despite occasional sprints of intensive work.

Over the past year, that has changed. Employee satisfaction among tech workers has plummeted according to Glassdoor reviews, falling in line with workers in finance and consulting — industries that often compete for the same pool of highly educated and in-demand talent. The growing angst among the tech class is palpable in the Glassdoor Community.

The sharp increase in interest rates in response to high inflation is a natural culprit, but the malaise has been building for some time. Well before the pandemic, frontline tech workers became further removed from key business decisions as organizational hierarchies swelled. The “managementiazaiton” of corporate America was not unique to tech, but it was particularly jarring for an industry historically accustomed to flat reporting chains.

The unavoidable truth is that working at the most familiar standard-bearers of tech has become a lot like working elsewhere in the economy: High pay is usually justified by a more demanding schedule and longer workdays. This evolution isn't unusual — it's the well-trodden path for past generations of industry innovators. With time, they become bigger, more stable, and more routine.

All is not lost for the tech industry, however. Recapturing the spark of innovation among employees will require executives to recalibrate their organizational compass: flatten org structures, focus on the long horizon so that employees have the opportunity to feel stable in their roles, and re-prioritize investment in the core technical talent that drives the development of crucial products.

Fundamentally, it's about listening to and elevating the voices of front-line employees. When the workers directly involved in creating the technology are allowed to speak up, unconventional, bold ideas tend to bubble up.

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