There have been a lot of scary headlines about the economy lately. Inflation is way up; depending on who you ask, a recession seems imminent. And yet hiring remains strong, and many workers (including technologists) are making more than ever before. Given that load of sometimes-contradictory data, how are technologists feeling about their job security?
Blind, which surveys anonymous technologists on a range of issues, recently posed that question to nearly 7,000 respondents, then broke down the results by company. As you can see from the below chart, many technologists are feeling a bit nervous about their current work status:
The number of technologists who feel more confident about job security is notably low; at companies such as Instacart, Twitter, and Robinhood, the percentages of those feeling “less confident” are almost stunningly high. In some cases, this is probably more a reflection of the individual company’s fortunes than broader economic fears. For example, Twitter employees have been through a professional roller-coaster thanks to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who attempted to buy the company before pulling out on the deal. At companies such as Coinbase and Robinhood, meanwhile, fears about their specific industry’s health are probably powering employees’ opinions.
But even at well-established companies such as Apple and Google, a sizable number of employees feel less confident. And that’s not good, even if those companies’ futures (and many of those technologists’ jobs) appear stable. For managers everywhere, it might pay to assemble your teams and talk through their concerns about the economy and the company’s bottom line; if their fears are eased, they’re more likely to focus on the tasks at hand.
Meanwhile, 40 percent of workers plan on quitting their current jobs within the next three to six months, according to a new study by consulting firm McKinsey & Company; of those leaving their current jobs, 48 percent planned on working for an employer in a totally different industry. That contradicts Blind’s survey data, which shows two out of three U.S. professionals (66 percent) aren’t actively looking for a new job. The mismatch between those two studies just underscores the general confusion over the economy and workers’ feelings about it—but no matter how bad (or good) things get, keep in mind there are lots of organizations out there that need technologists with the right combination of skills and experience.
