Tech employees unhappy with their company’s remote work plans could be heading for the exits, according to a new survey.
The survey, by anonymous professional network Blind, asked 5,680 tech employees from companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Zillow and Amazon.com Inc. if they were satisfied with their company’s new work-from-home or remote work policies – some of which require employees to be in the office several days a week. The survey also asked tech workers if the new policies made them want to leave their company.
Blind's survey found 66% of employees who were unsatisfied with their companies' work-from-home policies want to leave their employers, compared to just 6% of employees who were satisfied with their work-from-home policies.
It's another example of how flexibility is emerging as a top factor in both recruitment and retention, particularly in the tech sector.
Companies that offered permanent work from home also saw higher levels of satisfaction: Indeed, which offers permanent work from home, saw 92% of its employees happy with the arrangement, with only 3% wanting to leave. Facebook, which offers full work from home by approval (with a pay cut for those relocating to cheaper areas) or 50% time in the office, saw 87% approval and just 11% saying they would want to leave.
Twitter, which has offered permanent work from home, saw 85% satisfaction and only 5% of employees wanting to leave.
But companies that are mandating a return to the office in the fall, such as ride-sharing giant Uber, which is requiring three days a week in the office starting in September, saw lower levels of approval and higher percentages of employees wanting to leave in the survey, with just 37% satisfaction at Uber and 42% wanting to leave the company.
Amazon.com Inc., which has a similar policy, saw 47% approval in the survey with 40% of employees wanting to leave, with Apple Inc. at 41% approval and 37% wanting to leave.
Overall, only about 51% of tech employees are satisfied with their company’s new work-from-home policies, while 36% said those policies made them want to leave.
While the survey focused on larger companies, the results could have broader implications in an industry facing an intense battle for talent – especially with experts predicting a turnover tsunami in the wake of Covid-19.
"These results are a clear sign that [a] one-size-fits-all approach to the reopening of offices will turn away a significant portion of the employee base,” said Kyum Kim, Blind co-founder and head of U.S. operations. “Many employees have discovered the convenience of working from home during the pandemic and want the freedom to choose how they work."
The Blind survey is just one in a growing series of data points that show how much workers across the country want to keep the remote work arrangements they had during the Covid-19 pandemic — and the flexibility it offered to many workers.
The average worker, according to one study, is willing to take a small pay cut to continue working from home two or three days a week after the pandemic ends. Employees at some of the biggest tech companies are also willing to take a pay cut in order to relocate to a cheaper part of the country — and by a wide margin
Tech employees at some of America's largest employers are also willing to forgo a $30,000 raise to permanently work from home.
