Cloud and web firms working their way through turbulence, but others are on the up
Companies such as Meta, Intel and Amazon — which were all hit with redundancies or cuts 12 months ago — have regained some ground in the top 150 rankings of places that staff would recommend working in.
On the other hand, giants such as Google, TikTok and LinkedIn — not to mention Cork’s biggest employer, Apple — have all slipped noticeably as employers that people say they are satisfied with.
Of the 150 organisations ranked today, 30 could generally be regarded as “tech” firms, roughly the same number as last year.
Our analysis shows that half of these have risen in the rankings while the other 15 have fallen, compared to the same sentiment surveys last year.
Sunday Independent – Ireland’s Best Employers 2024
So what’s going on?
Broadly speaking, cloud and web technology companies are still working their way through turbulence.
But there are other, clearer winners. Telecoms, networking and infrastructure companies, for so long patronised as mere wiring providers by their booming web and software counterparts, have outperformed most other sectors within the broader tech category in terms of improved perception.
Ericsson’s software facility in Athlone, Co Westmeath
This is typified by Ericsson, this year’s biggest tech riser. The Athlone-based multinational networking equipment firm came from outside the top 150 to become the seventh most desirable organisation, of any kind, to work at in the country.
Similarly, Cisco went from 78th to 15th and Verizon Connect came from outside the top 150 to 69th.
Meanwhile, the mobile operator Three made the top 10 for the first time, rising from 25th to 10th while Vodafone came from around 200th in 2023 to 59th spot this year and Virgin Media rose from 184th to 131st.
The message here? There might be comfort and longevity in working for the companies that make the pipes, switches and data centres that keep all of our communications going regardless of which fancy app, social media platform or smartphone they service.
That’s not to say that there aren’t other lessons to learn from some of the standout performers from this year’s top 150.
Ecommerce site eBay rose from 10th to sixth in employee satisfaction, a solid achievement when so many web rivals are still floundering. This level of satisfaction among its staff may very well be related to the company’s comprehensive work-from-home policy. As the rest of the tech industry tries all sorts of tricks, inducements and veiled threats to get staff back into the office, eBay has generally stayed true to its core policy of letting employees work from home as much as they want. As a great many separate surveys show, that’s a popular position among many staff.
Cisco has jumped from 78th last year to 15th on this year’s Best Employers list
There are some significant tech casualties among this year’s Best Companies rankings. In particular, there are some notable companies that have dropped out from the top 150 altogether. Salesforce (134th last year) and software firm SAP (128th last year) have been relegated by staff, as have Dropbox (formerly 100th), McAfee (previously 85th) and Zendesk (81st in 2023).
Arguably the sharpest falls are VMWare (35th last year) and BT Communications (28th in 2023).
In VMWare’s case, a massive round of job cuts may be at play, while constant speculation over whether BT’s Ireland unit may be sold could also have influenced staff responses there.
There are other notable falls, including LinkedIn (top of the list last year but ninth this year), Google (tumbling from second to 21st), Adobe (down to 54th now from eighth last year), Dell (now 107th, down from 51st last year) and TikTok (freefalling from 67th to 150th).
It’s worth pointing out, though, that of the 15 tech companies that fell in this year’s rankings, a large chunk still score around the same, or even better, than they did last year in the eyes of staff. For example, the Dublin-based software multinational Workday slipped from 86th to 101st in the list, but its satisfaction score among employees actually went up, from 7.03 to 7.09 out of 10. Similarly, the French IT consultancy firm Expleo, with a base in Dublin, fell from 74th to 92nd but saw its actual score rating among staff rise from 7.07 to 7.15 out of 10.
Vodafone is a new entrant in 59th place
Microchip Technology, which went from 15th last year to 18th now, also had a small ratings rise.
Even seemingly steep falls, such as Liberty IT’s slide from 34th to 61st, came amid a generally unmoved satisfaction level among staff — Liberty IT scored 7.40 last year and 7.37 this year, barely any difference.
This is a very easy-to-miss statistical detail that merits further explanation. It indicates that, overall, people may be slightly happier with their working conditions in most tech companies, whichever one they work at, regardless of whether someone somewhere else is happier.
This is important as it suggests a recovery in confidence between staff and their tech employers, generally, after a bad year of layoffs and uncertainty over a potential “tech wreck”. What the figures do suggest is there has been a rising tide of employee satisfaction over the last 12 months that has lifted all boats, even at those falling down the ranks compared to their rivals.
Overall, it’s been a mixed year for how people feel about the tech companies they work at in Ireland.
But as they continue to settle into a post-boom, post-cuts period, the signs for staff now seem cautiously positive.