3 in 4 UK tech workers unhappy at work 

The What Do Tech Talent Want in 2023 report, from hackajob, surveyed over 1,000 technology workers in Britain, from developers and engineers, to data scientists, analysts, designers and product managers.

According to the report, only 11% of tech talent are content to stay in their current role.

The findings also reveal a disparity between what most UK employers are positioning as benefits and perks to attract and retain talent, and what they actually want. 

It comes as major companies like Amazon, Meta, Twitter, Microsoft and Salesforce have begun slashing thousand of jobs from their workforces amid economic uncertainty.

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Mark Chaffey, CEO and co-founder of hackajob, said: “Thanks to a global pandemic, a shaky economy and multiple layoffs, the report reveals a marked shift in technology industry attitudes towards job satisfaction.

"New priorities, new ways of working and changing relationships with work are leading to a brand new set of frustrations in the workplace. Employees want to be heard, recognised and valued.

“With former perks such as flexible working now being seen as the norm, many companies are seemingly struggling to figure out what the new era of benefits means for their business.

"The gap between what companies are offering, and what tech workers want is causing unrest at a time when there’s no shortage of alternative job openings out there.”

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The report showed a growing number of tech talent want to move jobs soon with over three quarters (77%) of saying they have looked for a new job in the past six months.

Nearly 20% are ready to leave their jobs as soon as possible. Only 11% happy to stay in their current role.

The survey found that after compensation, candidates are most attracted to a role and organisation by the overall culture (15%) and mission (13%).

When asked what they loved most about their current company, almost half of all surveyed (44%) said company culture followed by flexible/remote working (13%).

Remote working (61%) is the aspect that tech talent most enjoy about their jobs, ranking above tech stack, the set of technologies used to develop an application, which 34% said they valued most, followed by benefits (25%) and location (21%).

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The biggest work-related frustrations and challenges include salary (34%), lack of learning and development (32%) and not feeling valued (32%).

Chaffey said: “It’s easy to think that the tech layoffs that happened in late 2022 and early 2023 have stilled the waters in tech hiring, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Whilst many companies such as Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft have made several adjustments to their staff, many more “non-tech” organisations are still gearing up to make more tech hires than ever before as every company turns to technology as a critical part of their overall business strategy.

“But what does this mean for tech talent? Quite simply, there are still plenty of organisations hiring, and now many more people searching for new roles. Whilst salary will always be key to any tech job seeker, it is crucial that companies look outside of just remuneration in order to retain the tech talent they already have.”

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