UK Tech Developer Expectations and Employment
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The UK tech sector has become a candidate driven market with more vacancies than talent. But are businesses engaging employees or are they running the risk of losing talent to competitors?
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UK Tech Developer Expectations and Employment
- 1. UK Tech Developer Expectations and Employment Reality
- 2. An Expensive Problem page 02 Disengagement is costing UK businesses £340bn a year
- 3. Recruiting & Retaining Tech Talent page 03 • 45% of UK developers are currently looking for a new job • A further 22% would consider an opportunity if they were approached • 46% anticipate they will leave their role within the next year • 44% say their average time in a position is less than one year
- 4. Understanding Motivations page 04 Talent motivations are changing… • Salary (49%) is the most important consideration • Flexibility of the work environment (45%) • Career Development (23%)
- 5. Talent Misperceptions page 05 Failure to prioritise what matters… • 18% consider the quality of the tech • 55% are unhappy with tech quality • 14% consider management approach • 48% are satisfied with the approach
- 6. Attitudes Evolve page 06 Cash doesn’t always rule… • Opportunity to contribute in a wider context (42% - significantly more important) • Flexibility of the work environment (38%) • Making an impact in their role (35%) • Time to focus on innovation (32%)
- 7. More Than Money page 07 Recognising a growing contribution… • 67% would be most likely to accept a smaller salary if they had access to a profit share scheme • 45% would accept a lower salary if they received recognition from fellow developers • They would take an average salary cut of 14.9%.
- 8. Culture Matters page 08 Cultural fit has never been more important… 67% of developers think that company culture is more important today than it was five years ago. 53% have left a job and 47% decided against taking a job because of company culture. 42% that left a job because the culture wasn’t right, quit within a month.
Editor's Notes
- The UK tech sector has become a candidate driven market with more vacancies than talent. But are businesses engaging employees or are they running the risk of losing talent to competitors?
- Employee engagement is a serious issue with research showing that disengagement is costing businesses £340bn a year. In its simplest form, employee engagement is about making workers feel valued and encouraged, thereby getting the best out of them in return. Employees who feel more engaged by the company they work for are more likely to value their job and work harder to make the business a success – knowing that by doing so they increase their own chances of success and personal advancement. Recruiting and retaining top UK tech developer talent is becoming more challenging – especially for non-tech organisations. Independent Market Research undertaken by Sapio Research on behalf of Talent Deck has revealed that it could be about to become even harder.
- Our research wanted to investigate the reasons behind what is driving this high level of churn and how organisations can better attract and retain tech talent. The results have shown that as UK developers become ever more critical and high profile within the business, their expectations have changed. UK developers have the power and confidence to leave jobs if they are not satisfied. And many are not – from culture to management approach and flexible working, there is a significant gap between developer expectations and experience.
- It is no surprise that salary (49%) is the most important consideration for a developer when choosing a new job role. How many companies, however, would expect the flexibility of the work environment (45%) to be such a close second? Other considerations, including career development (23%), nature of the work undertaken (21%) and the quality of technology tools (18%) are a significant distance behind. There is an apparent acceleration in thinking among developers about flexible working with the advancement of the gig economy. With these issues now front of mind when considering a potential new job, organisations risk being dismissed out of hand if they fail to provide the right working environment. Organisations need to actively consider the work environment and culture, not just role, salary and location, to attract the right developer talent.
- It is also clear, however, that candidates are failing to prioritise their own standards during the recruitment process, which has a significant impact on job satisfaction. Candidates that are making assumptions about the tools and management capabilities of a potential employer are risking disappointment. But given the willingness of developers to move on if a culture or work environment isn’t the right fit, the onus is on organisations to highlight every relevant aspect of the working environment during the recruitment process.
- It is interesting to understand how individuals’ attitudes evolve during a career. We asked developers what has become more or less important to them as their career has progressed. The most notable difference in more mature attitudes is the desire for an opportunity to contribute to the business in a wider context – cited as significantly more important by 42% of developers. Flexible working environments, the chance to make an impact in a role and time to focus on innovation were cited as more significantly important over time than salary. This ties in with broader generational demographics which have highlighted millennials’ willingness to move on from a role due not, as widely reported, to a lack of commitment but frustration at a lack of impact. Given the challenges businesses face with developer retention, there is a need to proactively manage expectations to match candidates to the actual - not perceived - opportunity.
- Given the investment in tech start-ups and huge market valuation of innovative e-commerce businesses, it is no surprise that developers increasingly recognise their growing contribution to business success and this is reflected in their expectations in the workplace. Two-thirds would be likely to accept a smaller salary if they had access to a profit share scheme or the opportunity to contribute to the business in a wider context Profile and respect are, in fact, so important that not only would 45% of UK developers also accept a lower salary if they received recognition from fellow developers – they would take an average salary cut of 14.9%. This is a reflection of the growth of developer communities leveraging open source platforms to showcase their work. Solving problems for others and demonstrating awesome development skills offers huge kudos and organisations need to find a way to ensure these status driven individuals are equally feted within their own business, not just the wider developer community. Employers will have a real challenge in the future regarding the way they incentivise, motivate and reward tech talent.
- Company Culture matters – two-thirds (67%) of UK developers think that company culture is more important today than it was five years ago. However, the impact of the work environment on development teams will come as a shock to many businesses: over half of developers (53%) have left a job and 47% decided against taking a job because the company culture wasn’t right. 42% of those that left a job because the company culture wasn’t right for them, recognised this early and quit within a month. Clearly, any spike in developer turn over has an immediate impact on the rest of the team – there is more pressure and fewer opportunities to innovate. In addition to the management overhead associated with recruitment processes, it takes time to get new hires up to speed. A developer leaving – and stating it is due to a cultural mismatch – could demoralise and destabilise the team. Getting employees with the right cultural fit has never been more important to ensuring business longevity.