There’s no question as to the tremendous positive impact that technology continues to play in today’s fast-paced, 24/7 connected world. But while technology has led to many efficiencies and advances, it has also led to vulnerabilities. In recent years, cybercrime has resulted in several highly damaging data breaches; social media has become a playground for privacy issues; and the AI/robot revolution has employees running scared. This study provides a snapshot of how more than 30,000 tech employees responded to questions related to these three subject matters.
Check out the results and methodology below.
ROBOTS
The robots are coming — and it’s the youngest generation who’s most certain their jobs are at stake.
What do the young know that their older peers don’t? For starters, they’ve grown up alongside the boom in personal technology and social media. Some of them were only 5 years old when Facebook launched and 8 years old when the first iPhone debuted. In the two decades that they’ve been on earth, entire industries have risen and fallen because of the technology they know so well; it’s easy for them to imagine the pattern will repeat as artificial intelligence becomes more refined.
Up-close age breakdown
Thirty-two percent of tech workers aged 18 to 25 say they think their job could be replaced by a robot in the next 10 years, according to a query by Comparably. That’s the highest percentage among any age group. (The lowest rate was among employees 50 to 60, at 11%).
Entry-level jobs most at risk
The data shows that those in entry-level jobs, which often involve more clerical work, feel most vulnerable to being replaced by robot (35%). The more years of experience a person has, the less vulnerable they feel to being replaced by robots (12% of tech workers with a decade of experience or more say they believe their job will be replaced by robot.)
It’s not just manufacturing: admin, customer support & finance fear replacement
The so-called robot revolution has been underway for decades. A recent analysis by economists at MIT and Boston University suggests that robots were responsible for the loss of up to 670,000 manufacturing jobs between 1990 and 2007. They say that number will increase as industrial robots are expected to quadruple.
But the latest iteration of work robots are expected to sweep more than just the manufacturing sector. Indeed, those in administrative positions, finance, and customer support say they believe their jobs are most at risk. Those who work in executive positions, product, IT, and HR feel their jobs are most robot-proof.
Women more certain of the robot takeover than men
Twenty-three percent of women say they think robots may take their jobs in the next 10 years. That’s slightly higher than the 17% of men who say the same.
African Americans most concerned
Thirty-seven percent of African American respondents said they think robots will replace their job in the next decade. The lowest rate was among Caucasian respondents (16%).
CYBERSECURITY
Cybersecurity a growing issue
In recent years, advances in cybercrime have resulted in several highly damaging data breaches, underscoring the need for companies to better protect themselves. Indeed, 21% of employees across the tech industry say their company has suffered a major data breach of user information. The results show that workers 18 to 25 say this the most (29%), while workers over 45 say this least (17% on average for workers 41 to 60).
Boston, San Francisco least affected
Respondents in Boston and San Francisco were least likely to say that they had worked at a company that had suffered a major data breach. On the other end of the spectrum, 37% of respondents in San Diego said they had worked at a company that had suffered a major data breach.
Snapshot by department
Thirty-three percent of respondents who work in design roles reported having worked at a company that suffered a major data breach (33%). Respondents in administrative, finance and communications roles were close behind (26% each). HR workers, on the other hand, were least likely to say they worked at a company that suffered a major data breach (14%). IT and operations were close behind (18%).
SOCIAL MEDIA
In today’s world, social media is more than a productivity killer: it’s perhaps the most influential communication medium we have. The responsibility of companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter has been a subject of national dialogue, particularly these last few months on the backdrop of the Russia election investigation and ongoing privacy concerns. Aiming to see just how influential social media is, Comparably asked people how much time they spend per day on social media.
Most people say they are on social media no more than an hour a day
Eighty-three percent of respondents say they are on social media for less than an hour a day. Breaking it down further, 36% of people say they’re on 15 minutes or less; 25% say they’re on 15 to 30 minutes; and 23% say they’re on 30 minutes to an hour. Just 10% say they’re on 1 to 2 hours; and another 7% say they’re on at least 2 hours a day.
Men and women spend an almost identical amount of time on social media
The split between men and women was nearly identical, with “15 minutes or less” coming out as the most popular individual answer. The only difference was that men reported “15 minutes to 30 minutes” as their number 2 answer, while women reported “30 minutes to 1 hour” as their number 2 answer.
Employees in communications spend the most time on social media
The only group of workers at a department level to have something other than “15 minutes or less” as their most popular answer was workers in communications – 32% of them said they spend 30 minutes to an hour on social media a day.
Communications
Social media use isn’t all that different between the youngest and oldest workers
While there are significant differences in the percentage of people who use social media 15 minutes or less (28% of those aged 18 to 25 vs. 44% of those aged 51 to 55), the overall breakdown between the two age groups is similar enough: a total of 76% of 18 to 25-year-olds spend an hour at most on social media per day, compared to a total of 86% of 51 to 55-year-olds.
18 to 25
51 to 55
Methodology
Questions were in Yes/No and multiple-choice format.
Results are based on more than 21,000 responses from employees predominantly across the technology sector.
Employees hail from small, mid-size, and large tech companies (VC-funded, privately-held, and public) to household brands like Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, Uber, etc.
Data was collected between March 30, 2016 and November 20, 2017.
