Each year, PayScale runs the numbers on the nation’s top tech employers to shed light on what the employee experience (and pay) is like at some of the hottest companies in the country. We included 52 organizations in this year’s review — up considerably from last year’s total of 18 — for a more comprehensive look into what’s going on in the tech industry from a compensation and employee-outlook perspective. Here are some highlights and interesting nuggets.
Who’s Getting It Right
In terms of employee satisfaction, the top five tech companies to work for according to our survey are:
- Box.com (91%)
- Zendesk (89%)
- LinkedIn (82%)
- Google (81%)
- Workday (75%)
As for work that makes a difference in the world, employees at SpaceX, Airbnb, Twitter, Square and Facebook reported the highest level of job meaning. Highest earlier career median pay was found at Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Palo Alto networks and Square.
Who Got Some Low Marks
Our survey says you’ll find tech’s most stressed out employees at SpaceX, Airbnb, InsideSales, Samsung and Tesla Motors. Stress also runs high at Fujitsu, HP, IBM and Oracle, where, along with InsideSales and Samsung, relatively few employees report either high employer satisfaction or that their job makes the world a better place (factors that presumably ease the tension at the other top-stress companies). This group also pays significantly less than the median rate for early-career tech employees, and with the exception of Oracle and Samsung, mid-career employees at these companies also earn considerably below the median rate.
Amazon has earned a bit of a reputation for being a tough work culture thanks to some critical press coverage, and our data suggest this is indeed the case for many Amazonians. On key employee-experience measures like employer satisfaction, job meaning and job stress, Amazon performed poorly: employer satisfaction (45 percent versus 51 percent for all companies), job meaning (46 percent versus 51 percent), high levels of stress (64 percent versus 58 percent).
Tenure in Tech
People stick around at Nokia (average seven years), IBM (average seven years), Intel (average six years) and HP (average six years). Six companies on our list have an an average tenure of five years: SAP, Qualcomm, Oracle, Ericsson, Fujitsu and godaddy.
Thirty-three companies we tracked have an average employee tenure of two years or less, and twelve have an average employee tenure of one year.
Meaning Matters at Musk Companies
The data reveal an interesting contrast within the employee experience at both SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk’s companies. While employees at these organizations reported some of the lowest pay and highest stress levels in the industry, they also largely reported that their job is meaningful (90 percent for SpaceX and 77 percent for Tesla) and that they are satisfied with their employer (65 percent and 71 percent, respectively)
Social Media Companies Wins & Losses
Job meaning, relatively low stress, high employer satisfaction and the highest early career median pay — social media companies (Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, specifically) appear to be exceptionally good places to work. Interestingly, though, despite high median pay and positive employee sentiment, folks of the Twitter flock seem to be planning to flee: seventy percent said they intend to leave within six months.
Only 45 percent of Facebook employees in the survey and 46 percent of respondents from LinkedIn said the same. All three companies are in the Bay Area and have similar demographic profiles, so this is a particularly puzzling finding.
Wanna dig deeper into the details? Get all the numbers, info on the survey methodology and more here.
Tell Us What You Think
Do you work at one of these top tech employers? Tell us about your experience. Share your story in the comments.
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