5 min read

Tech talent trends and employer brand advice

CWJobs’ latest webinar explores the expectations and demands of tech talent, how companies can tailor their recruitment strategy to hire efficiently, and how to attract and retain a diverse talent pool.

Following the success of our last digital Employer Brand session, CWJobs recently hosted a new LinkedIn Live event called Tech Talent Trends and Employer Brand for 2023.

CWJobs’ Director, Dominic Harvey was joined by Steve Ward, Head of Employer Branding Solutions at Universum , and Tony Jeje, Director of Product Solutions at Totaljobs Group.

A rise in employee satisfaction, but a drop in trust

From Universum’s research, Steve revealed that the average satisfaction with current employers in 2022 was 7.1, compared to 7.0 last year. Likewise, 7.1 in 10 professionals are likely to recommend their current employer, compared to 6.9 in 2021.

He also shared that only 42% of professionals are interested in changing their employer in 2022, compared to 48% in 2021. These figures provide some insight into why it’s so challenging to attract tech talent at the moment – because people aren’t moving jobs.

Despite high satisfaction rates, when we dig deeper, we see that trust levels among tech talent are down between 9-14%. In 2022, only 31% of professionals trust their organisation’s vision, compared to 40% in 2021.

Steve said: ‘‘People aren’t wedded to their employer. This implies there’s an opportunity in marketing, and an opportunity in talent engagement. If you can tell the right stories in the right way, and talk about trust, you can influence talent because there’s a degree of uncertainty in the job market.’’

What tech talent wants from an employer

Universum’s research reveals that in 2022, the most important employer attributes are a competitive base salary, encouraging work-life balance, flexible working conditions, and professional training and development.

Tony said: ‘‘I think there’s a degree of anxiety among tech professionals when it comes to employer visions. If you look at some of the largest tech companies like Apple and Twitter, they’re moving away from flexibility and work-life balance, and asking employees to work in the office again.

Employees are concerned because they don’t know where these changes are going to land – a dichotomy has been created.’’

The gender pay gap in tech

When we look at what’s important to men and women in their jobs, we see clear differences. Secure employment is more important to women, whereas innovation is more important to men. For men, a clear path for advancement is important, but it’s not in the top 10 for women. Whereas, ‘respect for people’ is high up in importance for women, but not in the top 10 for men.

Steve concluded that employers should be marketing jobs differently to men and women, particularly in organisations that have a gender imbalance. In knowing what people want from a role, employers can better understand the drivers of different genders.

Looking at the gender pay gap, Steve noted that respect isn’t being demonstrated. The average female salary is £2,000 less than men, and despite the gender pay gap closing to 9% last year, it was 16% in 2022.

Dominic mentioned Totaljobs’ Gender Bias Decoder as a really useful free tool that can identify gender-coded words in job adverts.

The online channels that engage talent

Steve revealed that 75% of tech professionals use social media to learn about employers and their culture, whereas 51% use job boards, and 42% use career sites.

Because less people are looking to move jobs, the active tech talent audience is smaller, but the passive audience is larger. This means that employers should be doing more work to inspire and nurture talent.

Steve says that social media can be used to tell stories effectively. With good data, social media algorithms perform better, which enables employers to more accurately target audiences.

Dom said: ‘’I recommend looking to other brands for inspiration with social media if it isn’t your primary focus. For example, IBM’s ‘day in the life’ series in the tech sector is executed really well. It’s a great way of showcasing what the company and its employees are doing on a daily basis. It’s a good example of nurturing talent and sowing seeds for the future.’’

How employee expectations have changed

With the workplace having changed so significantly over the last two years, employee expectations have completely transformed.

From CWJobs’ Confidence Index 2022, Dominic shared that 57% of tech workers expect their salary to increase over the next 12 months, and 24% feel they deserve a promotion over the next year. He revealed that 23% of senior leaders are planning to increase the number of pay rises in the next 12 months, with 30% planning to offer pay increases to help combat the rising cost of living.

He also revealed that 49% of tech workers want flexible working options, 30% desire clear career progression, 21% have asked for mental health benefits, and 26% aspire to work with leading technology.

What companies are doing to attract and retain talent

Dominic shared that 39% of IT decision makers (ITDMs) planned to put a stronger focus on tech hiring this year to remain as competitive as possible, while 41% of companies said they would make better use of recruitment technology.

Similarly, 38% of ITDMs focused on building diverse and equitable teams, while 31% said they would focus on hiring industry specific specialisms, such as cyber security (33%) and artificial intelligence (32%).

Tony highlighted the importance of video and suggested that recruiters should use it for interviews, and as part of email marketing campaigns, seeing as the open rate is three times more with video emails.

He also noted that apprenticeship schemes from levels 5–7 are popular and that employers can secure young talent by offering internships before they graduate. Milkround, for example, has 20 years’ experience advertising and advising on graduate schemes and internships.