Why IT staff are unhappy at work
If you work in IT it's generally the case that you're quite well paid and enjoy good career prospects. Yet according to a new survey you're probably also unhappy.
Workforce engagement specialist TinyPulse surveyed over 5,000 tech and IT workers and found that they are very, very unhappy. The top drivers of unhappiness were poor coworker relationships, little room for growth with their employer, and not enough praise for their work.
When asked to rate their happiness at work on a one to 10 scale, only 19 percent of IT workers gave a score of nine or 10, compared to 22 percent of other workers. Around half of non-IT workers say that their promotion and career path is clear compared to only 36 percent of IT staff.
They're similarly pessimistic when it comes to assessing their opportunities for professional growth and how well they believe their employer supports them in their interests and goals. When asked how valued they felt at work only 17 percent of IT workers gave a nine or 10 score compared to 22 percent of non-IT staff.
When asked whether their supervisor had given them any recognition for their work in the past two weeks, 69 percent of IT workers answered yes compared to 75 percent of non-IT staff. There's also a bigger mismatch between personal values and the organization’s values with only 34 percent of IT staff rating the match in values between nine and 10 compared to 45 percent of non-IT workers.
Relationships with co-workers are poorer in the tech sector too, with only 47 percent of IT staff rating these a nine 0r 10 compared with 56 percent of non-IT.
The report concludes, "These employees directly impact others with their work, so disengagement and unhappiness here has ripple effects throughout other industries. To drive the creativity and productivity we need, leaders must make it a priority to combat IT employees’ workplace dissatisfaction".
You can find the more in the full report available on the TinyPulse website.
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