Tech’s big burnout problem

STEM careers are often touted as those with the best prospects, but when it comes to job satisfaction things may not be quite so rosy. A stark number of workers in the tech industry are currently looking to move jobs – either into a different tech role or into another field entirely. 

Many more are facing the looming prospect of job cuts, while an increasing number are reporting poor working conditions. All this adds up to a disaffected and disengaged workforce – something leaders need to fix or risk losing valuable staff and the knowledge they hold.

What can companies do to stem this issue, and how practical are these solutions? In this episode, Jane and Rory discuss the state of employee wellbeing in tech and how leaders can start to address issues such as burnout and turnover.

Highlights

“I think it all comes around, eventually, to your reputation as a company. Are people going to want to stay at a firm, where crunch is always on the table? Particularly when it comes to the kind of crunch that we do see in the video game industry.”

“If you are in an industry that is paid hourly, then you might get some kind of unsocial hours pay … like, time and a half or double time. But if you're salaried that kind of doesn't happen. The most you can probably hope for is your time off in lieu, but like you say, if it's something that happens every month or every two months then you're not really getting the downtime. And I think that that has to be part of the answer here as well.”

“For a long time, the tech sector has been a job seekers market, there are more positions open and there are people to fill them. This is the skills gap. This is just the very crux of it. So in theory, it's like, ‘oh well, this job didn’t treat me well, I can up and leave and go somewhere else’. But if you have been through a couple of jobs like that and you find that actually, it's the same story everywhere, is this what's causing people to just move out of tech completely?”

Footnotes

• How to combat high staff turnover in tech
• Agile development is fading in popularity at large enterprises - and developer burnout is a key factor
• Surging cyber threats exacerbating security staff burnout
• Hybrid work means we’re burning out harder and faster than ever
• A third of cyber security pros report crumbling work-life balance
• Cyber security professionals are exhausted, and it's putting firms at greater risk of attack
• Fighting the ‘always on’ culture that’s savaging mental health in cyber security
• Boosting mental health support in the workplace
• UK's four-day week trial ends, leads to reduced burnout and sick days
• The company-wide benefits of mentorship in tech
• Gartner: Nearly half of cyber leaders to leave roles over mounting stress
• IT staff frustrated at rate of change in the workplace
• Five ways to prevent digital transformation burnout
• Can businesses use AI to beat burnout?
• AI employee monitoring will only burn bridges in the workplace

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