Ford Foundation Study Cites 'Unfairness' as the Leading Factor in Flight from Tech Jobs
A new study, billed as the first of its kind, by the Ford Foundation and the Kapor Center for Social Impact set out to better understand why people leave theoretically cush tech jobs. What are the motivations of "tech leavers"?
More than anything else, survey respondents cited unfair treatment and out and out mistreatment. This was most widely reported by men of color, with women of all backgrounds experiencing significantly more unfairness than men of all backgrounds. According to the study, this unfairness costs the tech industry nearly $16 billion annually, not including so-called reputational costs.
The study took 2,006 tech or former tech employees that have voluntarily left a job in the past three years. 63 percent of respondents were male, and 75 percent were white. 91 percent were straight. While a bit optimistic, this is roughly representative of industry demographics as a whole. Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed said that unfairness was a major factor in their decision to leave a tech job. Specifically, bullying and stereotyping were the experiences uncovered as the largest predictors of leaving a job due to unfairness...