There’s a culture shift underway at tech companies, Business Insider reports, as “perks and pampering” are replaced by a work ethic that emphasizes “do more with less.” Elon Musk’s focus on efficiency is prompting businesses to cut benefits, enforce stricter work hours, and raise performance expectations. The battle to lead in artificial intelligence continues to grow as job security gives way to mass layoffs. Google, Amazon, and Meta are some of the tech titans that have embraced this no-nonsense approach.
Tech workplace overcorrections are exhausting. This article had me taking deep breaths in and out and thinking about both my past experiences in tech, current partnerships, and my beloved connections who are navigating these experiences live in their workplaces.
When the highs were high and the biggest tech players were offering meals for every stage of your day, free hair, nail, and massage appointments, and more, it wasn’t because they cared deeply about each employee. It was because they wanted you to work more. Be available more. Give more. Embed your whole life with them.
And now, the pendulum is swinging in a much more dangerous direction, and workplaces are showing their true colors with a very clear message: Be productive. Get Results. HUSTLE. Or be gone.
Performance management is being weaponized. Rigid return-to-office policies with no grounding in data or trust (just decisions driven by poor $$$ decisions). Productivity tools that feel more like surveillance. And leadership teams trying to justify it all in the name of "efficiency" and results.
None of this builds trust between companies and employees. None of it creates longevity. It’s performative and reactive and it's continuing to burn people out.
I'm beyond proud to be building something different.
In tech workplaces, performance pressure and proclamations of "efficiency" and "intensity" are replacing perks and pampering. Sweeping layoffs have become the norm in an industry that, in recent memory, enjoyed job security. The pressure to dominate in AI has created intense competition, as companies use the technology to do more with fewer workers. Already hard-driving workplaces have become even harder.
The shift started when the pandemic boom ended in 2022, but now there's a decidedly different tone from executives. They aren't just making these changes; they want to be seen making them.
It's just a job. For those who have been around the block working in the tech industry, many realized long ago, especially after booms and busts that 'family', 'innovation', and a whole hodgepodge of motivational words fade in and out of fashion. Try telling that to today's younger generation of workers who are having a hard time letting go even as the industry lets them go.
Innovate and grow has given way to do more with less. The industry's value proposition to workers has been its focus on a 'you can do it if you dream it' culture. Once bolstered by perks and pampering, workers are now experiencing the realities of what work is really about. Efficiency and performance are now the vanguards of success, and that has to be unsettling to those who brought the whole 'We are family' narrative companies spun for so long.
AI is the new child that changed things. A switch flipped in 2023 that put once highly recruited workers notches down on the totem pole. AI has become the favored one, and it continues to change the value of the workforce. Suddenly, the tech industry has gone from warm and fuzzy, to one as cold as any corporate reinforcer can come up with.
It's a poison pill tainting the talent pool. Then the industry made an even bigger shift - a new label. Getting rid of workers labeled as 'underperformers' not only gives companies the ability to skip severance packages but does the double whammy of tainting the reputation of talent.
Work hard, then work harder but don't expect perks. Similar to the early dot-com days, regularly burning the midnight is back in vogue. Going counter to that runs the risk of being deemed as not hard-working or loyal.
It will only get tougher. The industry is finding it less and less necessary to hire and coddle workers. Actions have certainly spoken louder than words. In many ways, the tech industry from startups to Big Tech that spent so much time building culture to differentiate itself is quickly becoming indistinguishable from corporate America. Tech workers shouldn't hold their breath that the industry they knew will be the same ever again