Study: Work-Life Balance at Big Tech Companies

Working for a high-profile tech company is no cakewalk. Although they often offer high-paying positions, the demanding nature of these environments can create a complex landscape for employees, which can often lead to burnout.

This issue is especially concerning given the varying skills gap in the tech industry, depending on specialization. This makes focusing on employee retention and well-being crucial for big tech companies. Many high-profile tech companies recognize this and strive to balance rigor and wellness.

However, what constitutes a “balance” is subjective and can vary greatly among employees. A common sentiment in tech and startup ecosystems known as “work hard, play hard” exemplifies how some employees relish a demanding work environment. Expectations around work-life balance are also fluid and can shift suddenly, such as the mass introduction of a work-from-home office culture in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To find out which companies strike a balance most effectively, Fullstack Academy examined Glassdoor reviews for over 100 of the most well-known tech companies in the U.S., focusing on keywords that indicate either a good or poor work-life balance. We evaluated companies' work-life balance by dividing them into five groups based on the frequency of work-life balance keywords in the Glassdoor cons section compared to the total number of reviews for each company.

Our findings reveal significant disparities among the high-profile tech companies in the U.S. According to our analysis, some companies truly excel at promoting a healthy work-life balance. In contrast, others may need to work on meeting the expectations of their employees. If you’re considering applying to one of the most prominent big tech companies, read on first to find out which ones, according to our analysis, are perceived by employees as promoting the best work-life balance.

Key Takeaways

• ByteDance, Stripe, and Manhattan Associates have the worst work-life balance.

• NetApp, Cisco, and Spotify have the best work-life balance.

• Only 40% of big tech companies have a good or very good work-life balance.

• Microsoft, the most profitable Fortune 500 company, has a good work-life balance.

• Wellness keywords, like “burn out,” appear 73% more frequently in the cons section than wellness keywords like “well-being” in the pros section.

The Work-Life Balance at Big Tech Companies

Our comprehensive analysis of Glassdoor reviews for the 100-plus most prominent U.S. tech companies reveals a stark imbalance of work-life balance across the big tech industry.

ByteDance, Stripe, and Manhattan Associates emerge as the companies with the worst work-life balance, as evidenced by frequent keyword mentions of “stressful” and “long hours” in the cons section of Glassdoor reviews.

The rapid pace of tech innovation and the skills gap it sometimes creates might lead to longer, stressful hours for existing staff, so tech companies must focus on retention and well-being to ensure turnover rates do not start to rise. However, when innovation moves at such a pace that the labor market can’t keep up, unique opportunities are presented for those who are skilling up their abilities, like machine learning.

Even among the big tech companies with the worst work-life balance, ByteDance’s work-life emerges as especially imbalanced. Over half of all ByteDance reviews negatively mention work-life balance. For comparison, reviewers for the company with the second-worst work-life balance, Stripe, only negatively mention work-life balance in 38% of all reviews.

On the other hand, NetApp, Cisco, and Spotify stand out for creating environments highly valued by employees for their work-life balance. This value is highlighted by frequent mentions of “flexible,” “work from home,” and “time off” in the pros sections of Glassdoor reviews. Overall, according to our analysis, only 40% of evaluated big tech companies scored a good or very good work-life balance rating.

The Big Tech Employees Angriest About Work-Life Balance

For a more nuanced look at the work-life balance of big tech companies, we also employed machine learning for natural language processing to identify the sentiment level of reviewers who negatively mention work-life balance. This sentiment analysis allowed us to not only identify frustration in reviews but also to measure the degree to which reviewers were angry.

For each company, we averaged review anger levels across all reviews. Then, we identified companies in the 20th percentile of high average anger levels as the companies where employees are most frustrated about work-life balance.

Not surprisingly, ByteDance emerges in the 20th percentile for highly angry reviews. However, EPAM Systems, which boasts a very good work-life balance, also appears in the 20th percentile for highly angry reviews. This means that while EPAM Systems has a very good work-life balance, according to the majority, those who disagree are so vocal about it that it’s worth paying attention to. Some of the most frequent work-life balance keywords in EPAM Systems' cons sections are “long hours” and “overtime.”

The Work-Life Balance at Frequently Reviewed Tech Companies

We examined the work-life balance of several subsets of big tech companies, the first of which are ones with over 1,000 reviews on Glassdoor, which we call frequently reviewed. Even among the frequently reviewed big tech companies, disparities still exist in work-life balance.

Paycom, ZoomInfo, and Meta stand out as the companies where concerns about work-life balance are most prevalent. Nearly one-third of all Paycom reviews challenge Paycom’s work-life balance alone. However, even though Paycom, ZoomInfo, and Meta have very poor work-life balance, none of these companies emerge in the top 20th percentile for highly angry reviewers. So, while these companies have a very poor work-life balance overall, their critics are not the most upset about this imbalance.

Nevertheless, in a job market where certain tech specializations are in high demand, it is paramount to address work-life balance concerns. Top talent will have options, and only some high-paying big tech companies have a poor work-life balance.

Conversely, NetApp, Cisco, and Autodesk showcase strong work-life balance performances, with roughly only 1 in 10 employees at each company negatively mentioning work-life balance.

Overall, only 52% of frequently reviewed big tech companies have a good or very good work-life balance. This percentage is slightly better than the 40% of all companies in the analysis with a good or very good rating but still shows that even the higher-profile tech companies still struggle with achieving this balance.

The Work-Life Balance at Prominent Tech Companies

Next, we examined work-life balance at some of the most recognizable high-profile tech companies; in other words, we looked at the highest of high-profile companies. Of these prominent organizations, Meta, NVIDIA, and Apple emerge as facing the most substantial work-life balance challenges.

Over one-quarter of Meta’s reviews highlight dissatisfaction with work-life balance, making it the prominent big tech company struggling the most with work-life balance. Many high-profile companies can rely on prestige to retain employees. However, it is debatable whether top talent will prioritize prestige over work-life balance in the long run.

On the other hand, Adobe, Oracle, and Microsoft stand out for their proactive efforts in maintaining a healthy work-life balance, as evidenced by frequent mentions of “PTO,” “flexible hours,” and “hybrid” in the Glassdoor reviews pros section.

The Work-Life Balance at Profitable Fortune 500 Tech Companies

Our final analysis subset examined the work-life balance at the Fortune 500 technology companies with the highest profit margins. No clear correlation exists between profit and poor or good work-life balance. For example, the most profitable Fortune 500 tech company, Microsoft, has a good balance, but the #2 most profitable, Qualcomm, has a poor balance. However, interesting differences still emerge among the most profitable companies.

Adobe, Cisco, and Oracle are the most profitable Fortune 500 tech companies that also have a very good work-life balance rating. Glassdoor reviewers frequently mention “remote,” “health,” and “family” in the pros section for these companies. In a competitive labor market where specialization and skills are highly valued, these companies improve their chances of attracting top talent by maintaining a positive work-life balance.

Conversely, Meta and NCR are the most profitable Fortune 500 tech companies with a very poor work-life balance. Reviewers on Glassdoor frequently mention keywords like “workload,” “long hours,” or “weekends” in the cons section for reviews of these companies.

Additionally, reviewers also mention keywords like “remote” or “work from home” in the cons section for Meta reviews. While many companies shifted toward work-from-home (WFH) models during the Covid pandemic, since then, many have reversed course wholly or in some part. As Meta started implementing an office mandate last fall, the effects on employee work-life balance perception have surfaced in the company’s Glassdoor reviews.

What Makes or Breaks Work-Life Balance

The factors that go into work-life balance perceptions at big tech companies are dynamic, revealing key broad insights about what makes or breaks this balance for employees. By examining the language of work-life balance across all reviews for all the companies in our analysis, we find some notable trends.

If the frequency of keywords is an indication, remote and hybrid work arrangements impact positive employee perceptions of work-life balance significantly more than their absence impacts negative perceptions. Keywords related to remote and hybrid work environments appear over three times more frequently in the pros section of Glassdoor reviews than in the cons section.

Conversely, wellness-related keyword mentions, such as “stressful” and “burn out,” dominate in the cons sections, appearing 73% more frequently than wellness keywords like “well-being” in the pros section. Unlike remote work, which yields high praise from big-tech employees when they have the benefit, wellness issues appear to garner mentions more often in reviews when employees find the balance inadequate.

Other patterns with specific work-life balance keywords also emerge with this macro view. Out of the 100-plus work-life balance keywords in our analysis, the term “work-life balance” itself arose as the most mentioned in both the pros and cons sections of Glassdoor reviews but appears over twice as often in the pros section. Like remote work, employees mention the subject of work-life balance itself more in reviews when they positively view it as opposed to when they feel it is inadequate.

Beyond the top keyword, the most frequently mentioned keywords in the Glassdoor cons sections are “long hours,” “stressful,” and “remote,” while the top keywords in the pros section are “flexibility,” “remote,” and “work from home.” These insights highlight the importance of flexibility and remote or hybrid work for enhancing employee perceptions of work-life balance at big tech while also highlighting what employees perceive as negatively impacting their work-life balance the most, like stress and long hours.

Secure Your Future With the Right Skills

While many high-profile tech companies offer competitive pay, not all offer the same work-life balance. Enhancing your marketability with specialized tech skills is important to ensure you secure a position at a company that values both performance and well-being.

Those seeking to break into tech amid increased demand for talent may consider bootcamp training via online training providers like Fullstack Academy. With program offerings concentrated in top tech subjects like AI & machine learning, coding, cybersecurity, and data analytics, bootcamp students can graduate with the job-ready skills they need to succeed. Learn more.

Methodology

We analyzed employee reviews of more than 100 technology companies that are U.S.-based or employ a significant number of Americans. Criteria for inclusion in our analysis were:

• A company must be a part of the 2023 Fortune 500 list, Russell 1000 stock market index, or the 2023 Crunchbase Unicorn Leaderboard (with greater than a $3B valuation).

• A company must have 250 or more employee reviews on Glassdoor.

• A company must be tech-focused, which, for our analysis, includes computer hardware and software, information technology, internet services, and retailing and excludes engineering, electronics, biotechnology, telecommunications, finance, and other industries.

How we determined our ratings:

We know certain keywords represent a commentary on the broad topic of work-life balance. We selected 100+ keywords for consideration and searched for exact matches across all company reviews. Categories include work-life balance, schedule flexibility, remote and hybrid work, family, wellness, time off, and workload. Some keywords positively invoke work-life balance; others do so negatively. Keyword examples include "flexible schedule," "family-friendly," "burned out," and "unmanageable workload."

To ensure the context in which a reviewer used a keyword, we identified its placement in either the pros or cons section of each review. This placement means if a person mentions "time off" in the pros section of their review, we assume a positive valence. We mark a negative valence if they mention the same keyword in the cons section. While these are not perfect context indicators, we find them excellent for macroanalysis.

To establish each company's rating, we counted the number of reviews that mentioned any of the keywords in the cons section, indicating a negative sentiment about work-life balance. Then, we calculated the percentage of all reviews for that company that included one or more keywords in the cons section. This percentage drives our ratings for companies with strong or weak work-life balances.

The ratings are based on performance quintiles, so a company in the 20th percentile for a high frequency of keywords in cons sections is considered to have a "very poor" work-life balance.

For additional perspective, we used a pre-trained BERT-based machine learning tool from Hugging Face to measure the language sentiment for any review that included one or more keywords in its cons section. Then, for each company, we averaged the anger sentiment ratings to report where employees expressed the most frustration in their critiques of work-life balance. "Most angry" again represents the 20th percentile for high average anger ratings.

For companies on our Work-Life Balance at Profitable Fortune 500 Tech list, we compared work-life balance ratings to company profitability at 28 tech companies from the Fortune 500 list that also had 250+ reviews on Glassdoor. We calculated the profit margin by dividing each company’s revenue by their profits, as reported by Fortune.

We excluded Amazon from our analysis due to the complexity and difficulty in adequately parsing employee reviews between professional roles and warehouse or delivery employees. While we were able to achieve this review separation for many large companies in the analysis, Amazon’s unique operational scale and structure presented significant challenges that prevented us from achieving reliable differentiation in our analysis.