SALT LAKE CITY — The tech sector is the fastest growing sector in the state of Utah, but the pandemic changed the way many tech employees work and what they want out of their future jobs.
Tech employees that started working from home 14 months ago have changed their wants and needs and are now looking for something different when it comes to their career.
President of the Women in Tech Council, Cydni Tetro, says there are four major changes that have happened in Utah‘s tech industry over the last year.
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The first big change, working remotely, has changed what’s important to people.
A study of Silicon Slopes found most people prefer working from home, with 91% saying they are more productive at home and 70% saying their work-life balance has improved.
Only 3% of people said they are ready to go back to the office full-time and 40% said they would leave a company if they’re asked to return to an office full-time.
The survey also found that employees now have a lot of leverage regarding where and how they work with a surge of tech jobs emerging from the pandemic.
Currently, there are thousands of open positions in Utah’s tech industry.
69% of companies are permanently changing how they look at remote learning options.
And 87% of tech workers in Utah said they wouldn’t take a job unless there is a remote option involved.
The good news for employees is that 75% of leaders believe that the hybrid model is going to be the supported model going forward.
That means leadership styles will have to evolve.
“Employees have a choice, and they’ve now decided that because of what we’ve learned over the last year, different things are important,” Tetro said. “Like that’s what changed in us as employees, this ability to maybe not commute two or three hours a day to get to the office, this ability to have some presence and have high productivity at home and still collaborate with team members and so that’s going to become a big driver for retention.”
Without having experienced 2020, Tetro says we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to discover the flexibility and choices we want in a career, and because we have that now it will lead to new innovation.
To learn more, you can join the Virtual Talent Summit Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. It’s hosted by the Women in Tech Council and is free to attend.
