Half of All Tech Workers Surveyed Think Their Workplace Is 'Unhealthy' (wfaa.com)

"Half of tech employees think their work culture is toxic," reports one Texas news site, citing a new survey by Blind: Blind, an anonymous work talk app, asked more than 12,000 tech staffers to respond to the statement: "I consider my current workplace a healthy working environment." Slightly more than half, 52 percent, said the survey statement was "false," versus nearly 48 percent who responded with "true."

Intel was named the tech company with the least healthy work environment, by 48.5 percent of its employees, followed by Amazon at 46.5 percent, and eBay at 44.5 percent. Employees who consider their workplaces healthier work at LinkedIn, where 17.3 percent responded true, followed by Google, at 23.7 percent, and Uber, at 29.7 percent.
It depends on how you define "unhealthy," of course -- but it'd be interesting to hear how Slashdot's readers respond to the same question. So leave your own thoughts and reactions in the comments.

Is your work environment unhealthy?

Comments

Re:Confused By Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not just the summary. The article is equally confused. What's more, even if one flips a few signs, the maths doesn't look right: the average of a distribution that ranges from 17.3% to 48.5% is not going to come out as 48% OR 52%.

Define "unhealthy"

[wierd_w]

If by unhealthy, you mean:

"Our bosses are insane, and keep mandating inhuman and inhumane hours, while simultaneously cutting pay and benefits. They tell us that this is just the market responding to industry pressures, but somehow our quarterly reports remain stellar, and our bosses bring home multi-million dollar bonuses every year."

then yes. That is epidemic. The only real solution is the Pyrrhic option of unionization. (Yes. I know it has real bad sides. There really isn't a valid alternative without legal enforcement from the feds, and face it-- the suits have more money than you do, and will never support such an initiative without a shotgun pointed at them.)

If you mean "There is an unhealthy sexist culture that makes me feel uneasy or victimized."

That is somewhat supported, but it also goes the other way-- "I am afraid to even so much as mention the word "sausage" at the office, lest I be fired for being gender insensitive." This is a situation where a carefully balanced degree of enforcement is the ideal, and management needs to resist the urge to over-enforce to placate vocal minorities at the expense of silent majorities.

If you mean "The building is literally toxic. There is fucking asbestos hanging out between the ceiling tiles, falling on us every day."

that too has a surprising incidence rate. (It combines with the first interpretation, where "employees and their welfare are not worth spending investor money on!" is the pathology.) However, it is ALREADY illegal to provide such a work environment... which brings us to--

If you mean "My employer is abusive, and threatens extraordinary consequences for addressing grievances of any kind. Shit is real here, but if I speak up, I will not only be sacked, but never work in this industry ever again."

That too is a thing, especially in the hyper-connected world we live in today. Sadly, this would require sweeping changes in how HR approaches social media and how it automates its hiring practices in order to prevent abuses in the employer/employee relationship of this kind, as well as stronger penalties for industries that defacto engage in it. This suffers the same problem as the first interpretation; the solution requires the individuals with all the political momentum to work against their own interests, in favor of those with little to no political or financial power.

This is still a useful question to ask, but it needs the followup to clarify. Of course, I dont think industry or government really want to know.

Re:Define "unhealthy"

[GameboyRMH]

And don't forget that today's various deplorables may define "unhealthy" as "This company is taking claims of sexual harassment seriously, promoting women, Jews, and brown people, is allowing itself to be infested with 'SJWs' while doing nothing to promote 'diversity of thought,' is supporting a culture which makes me feel uneasy about releasing the numerous and lengthy 'scientific' screeds I have prepared which address these issues, and is otherwise making its workplace hostile to toxic shitgoblins like myself. 1 star, gas the lot of them."

Age of those surveyed?

[BitZtream]

Looking at the list of companies, its pretty clear that its directly related to average age of employees.

Google, LinkedIn, Uber ... Majority of these employees are20-something devs with little real world experience who think that tricks used to make them work more and frivolous/meaningless 'perks' make these great places to work.

Intel - Actual engineers, not software devs calling themselves engineers with 0 certifications from an actual trade group - i.e. average person here has been around longer, worked more and is aware they work is a 4 letter word for a reason, not easily tricked by perks like 'in house cafeteria' which is really just another way to get you to work through lunch.

Amazon - Mostly factory workers who bust their ass doing physical labor in long shifts or older admins making AWS stay green. I.E. they actually work for a living rather than sit at a desk whining about the broken crappuccino machine.

Basically this survey just confirms that manipulating people who don't know any better is still very profitable for business

Ebay - I have no idea here.

What is meant by "unhealthy?"

[QuietLagoon]

I mean really. The question itself is designed to give non-meaningful results. Why waste the time of /. readers with something so flawed?