Working for Big Tech may not be so cushy after all

San Francisco — Big tech companies such as Facebook and Alphabet’s Google, long seen as some of the world’s most desirable workplaces offering countless perks and employee benefits, are losing some of their shine.

The Silicon Valley companies dropped out of the top 10 “best places to work” in the US, according to Glassdoor recruitment website’s annual rankings released on Tuesday. HubSpot, a cloud-computing software company, grabbed the top ranking while tech firms DocuSign and Ultimate Software were three and eight, respectively.

Facebook, which has been rated the “best place to work” three times in the past 10 years, was ranked 23rd. It’s the social media company’s lowest position since it first made the list in 2011 as the top-rated workplace. Facebook, based in Menlo Park, California, was ranked seventh in 2018.

Google, voted “best place to work” in 2015 and a top-10 finisher in the previous eight years, came in at number 11 on Glassdoor’s list. Apple, once a consistent top-25 finisher, was ranked 84th. Amazon, which has never been known for a positive internal culture, failed to make the list for the 12th straight year.

Microsoft was one of the lone Big Tech members to jump in the rankings. The Redmond, Washington-based software company moved to number 21 from 34 a year ago.

The annual list ranks companies using employee reviews on areas such as compensation, benefits, culture and senior management. Many of the big technology companies, including Facebook and Google, have been criticised in 2019 for a myriad of issues, and in some cases employees have publicly opposed executive decisions.

At Google, employees have protested against the company on a number of topics, including the company’s “intimidation” tactics against worker organisers. The results of an internal employee poll at the internet search giant, reported by Bloomberg in February, showed that fewer employees were inspired by CEO Sundar Pichai’s vision than a year earlier. It also found fewer workers believe senior management could successfully lead the company into the future.

At Facebook, which, just like Google, provides employees with perks including free meals, corporate transportation and laundry services, workers have pushed back internally against leadership on some policy issues, such as the decision not to fact-check political advertisements.

Bloomberg