72% of Tech Workers May Quit Their Jobs Due to Poor Culture
How has 2024 started for you? Are you back at work and energized, or counting the days until your next vacation already? If it’s the latter, you’re not alone. The quiet quitting phenomenon is well established by now, but that doesn’t mean it’s waning.
The pandemic, combined with a wide availability of roles in tech and digital currently, means people aren’t afraid to move on if they don’t feel supported or satisfied in their current role.
A survey by TalentLMS and Workable reflects this: a massive 72% of tech and IT professionals are considering resigning from their job in the next year. This is significantly higher than among the overall U.S. workforce, where 55% are planning a move.
Even that figure should be enough to set alarm bells ringing; after all, the more people who actually complete a job move, the more will realize that they don’t need to be languishing in a role that doesn’t fulfill or satisfy them.
So then, where does satisfaction in the workplace come from? Naturally, a competitive salary and benefits are essential; we are already seeing a trend among U.S. tech companies to adopt a more European approach to vacation time.
The other main source of satisfaction––or lack of it–– is workplace culture. In a highly competitive jobs market, company culture can be a secret weapon that attracts and retains the best talent. But, if you find yourself somewhere with a poor, nonexistent or even toxic culture, that supposed dream job can quickly turn into a nightmare.
As with anything, culture in a company comes from the top down, and a company’s outward messaging is key to driving satisfaction and loyalty.
According to Blue Beyond, eight out of 10 workers believe it’s important that company values align with their own, while 52% are likely to quit their job if that is not the case. In addition to this, 76% expect their employer to be a force for good in society.
These are questions that workers are fully within their rights to ask their employers; what are we doing to fight climate change, sustainability, inequality, and more? And if company culture is not acting as a force for good in society, on some level, there are many companies out there which value this just as much as employees do.
Company culture is more than environmentalism and a good moral compass, however. Interpersonal challenges and how they are managed (or not) feeds into culture too.
According to the American Psychological Association’s 2023 Work in America report, one in five respondents described their work environment as toxic, while a similar amount reported it as having a detrimental effect on their mental health.
A toxic atmosphere can be driven by a number of factors, not all of them immediately apparent. These can include unethical behavior, workers feeling disrespected by their peers or management, and failure to promote equity, diversity and inclusion.
Finally, any and all of these factors are likely to lead to burnout. Burnout can manifest itself in many ways, including poor performance and more physical symptoms of illness.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 48% of U.S. workers feel mentally and physically exhausted at the end of the workday, while another 41% report feeling burned out from their work.
If poor workplace culture is making you dread going to the office, there is light at the end of the tunnel on the nextpit Job Board, which contains thousands of open roles, like the three below.
In San Antonio, Data Annotation is working to improve the capability of AI Chatbots every day, and is seeking Software Developers to assist in the task. In this role, you will create coding tasks for AI Chatbots and evaluate their performance as they solve problems and present new solutions. Proficiency in at least one programming language is essential, as well as the ability to evaluate and code for correctness and performance, and present reports on how the AI examples succeed or fail in the tasks.
In Bethesda, Leidos is growing its team and seeking a Software Developer - Training Systems for technically sophisticated and challenging software developer positions, creating a variety of naval training and simulation systems such as CIAT - Combined Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) and Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Trainer - YouTube. You’ll need a B.S./B.A. in computer science, or equivalent experience, as well as four-plus years’ developing software in C++, Java, or related languages.
Intel needs no introduction, and has many roles advertised across the USA, including a Software Engineer to join its team in San Diego. In this role, you will be part of a team responsible for the development of next-generation PC platforms, designing and testing cutting-edge features and capabilities. Qualifications and experience in relevant roles are essential, as is hands-on skill working across multiple OSs and disciplines.
Start your job search today via the nextpit Job Board. This article was written by Doug Whelan.
