Let’s kick today’s show off with a collection of survey and research data around work and hiring to sort through.
First, this from the Hustle: Researchers found the share of work being conducted from home in the US is now 27.7%, down from 61.5% in 2020 but substantially up from 4.7% in 2019.
Hired’s2023 State of Software Engineers Report gives some data on that balance. Companies remained eager to hire software developers remotely because it allowed them to tap into a wider pool of skilled tech talent. As a result, software engineers received more interview requests for remote roles than “local” roles, defined by Hired as jobs tied to a specific location or market. Likewise, at the end of December 2022, remote roles paid more than local roles in every market but London.
Unisys has some commissioned data in partnership with HFS Research. The study, From Surviving to Thriving in Hybrid Work, offers these insights:
Nearly half (49%) of employees surveyed report losing between one and five hours of productivity per week dealing with IT issues, and 23% report losing six hours or more. After salary and compensation (57%), providing tools and support to help employees do their jobs effectively (56%) comes in a close second as employees’ top influencing factor in whether to stay with or leave an employer.
Gartner seems to think the tech talent crunch may be over. Their analysis notes that many of those impacted by layoffs are in business functions rather than tech roles. In a Gartner survey conducted in November and December 2022, 86% of CIOs reported facing more competition for qualified candidates, and 73% were worried about IT talent attrition. And Gartner’s research found that the companies behind the ten largest layoffs in tech talent still employ over 150,000 more people than at the beginning of 2020.
And also, from Gartner — 72 percent of high-tech leaders in the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe have plans to grow revenue this year. The company’s survey found that almost half of those leaders believe they will be able to outperform their competition in 2023.
Why do we care?
Here’s my storyline. Remote work is settling in, and there are lots of reasons to do it. It’s not going to be everything, but it’s also not going away, and you need the proper technology investment to maximize it. Combine that with the management investment – that support – and you can also make happy employees. And don’t forget satisfied customers by delivering this.
Continuing the story, while there is all the noise of tech layoffs, most tech companies are optimistic about business, worry about losing people, are bigger than they were before, and aren’t actually letting go of those valuable technical roles.
Seems generally positive to me.
