Hired’s 2019 Global Brand Health Report: Where Tech Talent Want to Work and Why

In today’s increasingly competitive hiring market, companies are doing more than ever before to attract the best and brightest tech talent. With demand for tech talent outpacing its supply, it’s a candidate’s market. Companies recognize that it takes more than just flashy perks to stand out and retain today’s workforce. Candidates want a mission they can get behind, workplace culture that aligns with their values, flexibility with remote work options, and the opportunity to learn new skills that will push their career forward. 

 At Hired, we’re dedicated to providing companies with the insights they need to attract and retain the world’s most talented tech workers. Companies are only as successful as their people, so to help organizations better understand what candidates value in a new role, what causes them to look for a new job, and what companies they’d most like to work for, we’re publishing our 3rd annual Global Brand Health Report.

We surveyed more than 3,600 tech workers on the Hired marketplace, and their responses tell a clear story about what they look for and expect in a prospective employer.  We hope these insights help companies better understand today’s job seekers and ultimately build more predictable and efficient hiring processes. 

Top Global Employer Brands: Airbnb and Google Lead the Pack 

We did something new this year. For the first time, we separated the global rankings into two lists: the top 15 private and top 15 public companies to work for in tech.  It’s important to recognize that public and private companies have the ability to compete for talent in different ways, and thus should be decoupled when tech talent ranks their appeal as an employer brand . In 2019, Airbnb topped the list for private companies with a Brand Positivity Index (BPI) score of 76, followed by SpaceX (70) and Hulu (66). 

When it comes to public companies, Google’s BPI increased 4 points this year to 87, pushing it to the top of the list. Last year’s top global employer brand, Netflix, now follows close behind at 82, and Apple comes in third at 77. While it might be harder to maintain your employer brand as a public company, job seekers often want to work for a well-established company with job security. 

Among private companies, several innovative startups also made their debut on our global rankings this year including: Robinhood, Squarespace, Stripe, Instacart and Coinbase. Companies like Robinhood, Stripe and Coinbase are paving the way for new and creative ideas in the financial services industry, while Squarespace and Instacart are aimed at making consumer’s lives easier in their respective industries.  Additionally, all of these top companies are changing the way we operate, validating our findings: tech talent wants to contribute meaningful workk and create impact that will make a material difference to the business.  

Top Local Employer Brands: Shopify Continues its Reign 

To understand local hiring leaders, we zoomed in on 14 cities across the globe   to find out one thing: which companies do tech workers want to work for. For the third year in a row, Shopify topped the list in Toronto, while media companies like BBC, Vimeo and NPR made a splash in markets like London, New York and Washington D.C. respectively.

 Understanding Today’s Tech Talent: Their Preferences and Motivators

Great companies start with great leaders. We asked today’s knowledge workers which technology leaders they found most inspiring, and Tesla’s Elon Musk led the pack, alongside Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. 

When it comes to working in tech, our report found that location is everything. More than a quarter (29%) of candidates won’t consider commuting more than 30 minutes for a job and 65% are interested in working 100% remotely. Interestingly, this year we asked tech talent to share why they would not prefer to work remotely and 41% cited they would feel disconnected from their team while 26% cited they wouldn’t have any separation between work and home.  

Additionally, even with doomsday headlines around the rise of AI, the fear of automation eliminating jobs is not a current motivator for job selection. Just 4% of respondents note AI as a concern. 

Offer Accepted: What tech workers expect from their next job

Job seekers evaluate which job to accept or reject based on a variety of considerations, depending on their stage in life, career seniority, and lifestyle. And the truth is, it’s not a one size fits all. Although tech talent cited salary being the number one driver for accepting an offer,  it’s important to recognize the other factors that motivate tech talent to choose one company over another. Company culture remains a top motivator, with more than 40% expressing that it is ‘most important’ when considering a new company. The opportunity to learn new skills came in a close third at 39%. 

That being said, compensation will always be top of mind for candidates. Companies that maintain sound compensation philosophies that support fair pay will ultimately be ahead of the curve. 

Companies that aren’t paying attention and being proactive about what matters most to their workforce run the risk of not only falling behind but being unable to retain top talent they have worked hard to recruit. Results show that the top two factors that turn job seekers away from a company are a lack of interest in a product (49%) and poor reputation (43%). 

When reaching out to candidates, companies should share full details about the company mission and product upfront, including key features on the product roadmap to showcase their overall vision. It’s valuable for tech talent to hear about the lasting impact the technology will have on potential customers or the world at large. 

The hiring process is no cakewalk for candidates. Sorting through dozens of job listings and taking multiple phone screenings can be an exhausting and time consuming process. This is one reason why transparency is so important for job seekers and why 71% of respondents say seeing salary ranges upfront is the number one motivator for responding to a recruiter. 

Hiring is mission-critical for companies that want to grow and innovate, and successful executives know their hiring funnel is just as important as their revenue funnel.  Understanding what candidates are looking for in a potential employer gives companies a much-needed competitive edge in today’s hiring market. At Hired, we’re committed to helping companies attract and retain top talent that will push their business forward. A strong employer brand should be a pillar of any talent acquisition strategy aimed at building the world’s best teams and technology.