In the quest for the “hyper-productive” employee, tech companies have gone out of their way to create an environment to make employees stay in the office for long hours. To do so tech offices often have a more relaxed atmosphere and are equipped with everything from bean-bag lounges to video-game rooms and even chef-made free meals have become standard across startups worldwide.
However, behind the glossy image of the “cool office” hides in plain sight an obvious truth. These perks and “benefits” are not meant as bonuses from companies that care about their employees, but instead, are blatant attempts to keep workers in the office for longer than is healthy or productive. The lounge area and couches while very comfortable are still only there to ensure employees leave the office as late as possible, disrupting their work-life balance and ensuring they’ll become burnt out somewhere down the line.
As corporations essence is to profit as much as is possible, often employee’s long term mental and physical well being aren’t company priority. Overwork at major companies across the world is not a new thing, in fact, Japan even having a term for it (Karoshi). The Asian powerhouse reported 189 cases of Karoshi in 2015, though many analysts place their estimates higher than that. It’s not unusual in Japan to see a businessman sleeping on the sidewalk, or while standing on the subway.
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Even in the US, workers in investment banking and finance industries tend to average around 80+ hours per week. Though this has changed after high-profile incidents, including a Merrill Lynch intern who died after working for 72 hours straight, the corporate world remains a difficult, cutthroat atmosphere where long hours are the norm.
The tech world has made its reputation as a disruptor in everything from the products they sell to the way they deal with “corporate” culture. However, the industry’s relative infancy results in a scattershot approach obsessed with “disrupting” as opposed to fixing, looking for the short cut often without considering the long-term.
Projects that are rushing to be first-movers, acquire funding, and breakthrough oftentimes result in work schedules that are both intensive and variable. Moreover, the speed with which projects change their direction, change their scope or are simply abandoned means that employees are working in incredibly uncertain conditions.
The standard response by companies to the long list of demands they have for their workers is to focus on keeping workers “happy” despite asking them to work longer hours during the week and to even routinely sacrifice their personal time.
Companies entice workers to stay at the office longer with seemingly innocuous and friendly perks—bringing dogs to work, in-office laundry services, free dinners, “relaxation rooms”—but these benefits are simply the bait businesses use to encourage an unhealthy work-life balance.
The tech industry is contending with serious employee health issues and is doing so quite poorly. A survey launched by workforce app Blind revealed that of the thousands of users that responded to the question “Are you currently suffering from job burnout?”, over 57 per cent said they were. The same survey also revealed that 39 per cent of tech workers reported feeling depressed.
No amount of workplace perks and benefits can make up for the fact that employees are feeling overworked. Consequently, the industry is starting to receive blowback for policies workers feel are deceptive. Tech exhibits the highest employee turnover rate at over 13 per cent and is largely driven by a culture that glorifies overwork as corporate loyalty.
Things may be improving
Even so, it seems the industry is slowly coming around to the problem. Uber, for instance, continues to rank among the best places to work for tech employees, and that has to do with the company’s paid-time-off (PTO) policies which include unlimited paid days off and flexible sick days. Unlimited vacations are becoming a common trend across the industry as well, with companies like Riot Games, VMware, and Mammoth offering this to their employees.
Others have started emphasizing skills-based growth instead of offering physical perks. This also shows that companies are becoming more in tune with what their employees need. Some companies are starting to focus on demonstrating their commitment to a more reasonable work-life balance, which is a major deciding factor for employees seeking new jobs.
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Tech workers finally getting fed up with the promise of “puppy days”, pool tables, and free meals. Instead, they are starting to demand benefits that allow them to be healthy and mentally sound, as opposed to overworked and depressed.
It’s time for the tech industry to think of their long term success and understand that a happy and healthy employee who isn’t burnt out or depressed is a long term benefit which is smart to invest in both for the company’s benefit and the employees. One less ping pong table won’t make such a drastic difference anyway.
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