Tech industry as an employer in 2023

- "Based on our survey, the tech industry is one of the most attractive in Swedish working life. In addition, gender equality in the industry seems to be moving in a positive direction, although much work remains to be done," says Tina Ekström, CEO of the Swedish Institute for Gender Research.  

In the report, Nyckeltalsinstitutet has mapped working conditions and developments in the tech industry and compared them with Swedish working life in general. The survey is based on responses from around 70 member companies in TechSverige.  

Secure employment conditions
The results show that tech companies offer secure employment conditions. According to the survey, a median of 99% of employees have permanent employment. A measure that has become an increasingly important factor leading to healthier employees. Short- and long-term sick leave among tech company employees is low, indicating a good working environment.  

The density of managers in the tech industry is high, which creates the conditions for good leadership. In the industry, managers have an average of 8 employees per manager, while the general figure in Swedish working life is 11 employees. 

Gender equality in a positive direction
In recent years, the tech industry has increased the proportion of women by about half a percentage point per year. In 2022, the industry was 32% female. Five years earlier, in 2017, 30% were women. The management structure is relatively equal, with 36% of managers being women. This suggests that although women are underrepresented among all employees, they have at least as good a chance as men to become managers. In management teams, there is a wide variation in gender equality. However, the median for tech companies is 39% women, which is close to the norm of 40% for a management team to be considered equal.

Salaries are also moving in the right direction. According to the survey, women in the tech industry are paid about 5% less than men. Five years earlier, the difference was almost 8%. This does not mean that women are paid 5% less for equal or equivalent work, but the difference can be explained by the occupational structures between men and women, where men are more likely to be employed in high-paying occupations and women in lower-paying occupations. 

- If this trend continues, with the gap narrowing by three percentage points over a five-year period, men and women in the sector will have equal median wages by the early 2030s," says Tina Ekström. 

Although there is a positive trend in terms of increasing the proportion of women in the workforce, occupational groups in the sector remain unequal. Five out of six occupational groups are either male-dominated (more than 60% men) or female-dominated (more than 60% women).

- The tech industry has a strong focus on attracting more women to tech jobs. It is encouraging that we are seeing movement. But we need to increase the pace further. Among other things, by making the tech professions visible as attractive to everyone. TechSverige also collaborates with a number of other organizations on these issues and provides support and tools to member companies in the work of creating an equal and inclusive work culture, says Einar Humlin, head of negotiations at TechSverige. 

Another challenge for the tech industry is high attrition rates. Among tech companies, 16.3% left their employers in 2022. A large proportion of those who leave go to other companies in the industry. The skills shortage is leading to fierce competition for talent, which may help explain these statistics. 

- Working on your corporate culture, leadership and attractiveness is very important to retain and develop employees. When there is a great need to replenish with new skills, it is also important that companies have a good process for onboarding and can quickly get employees included and engaged in the business. To ensure this, we at TechSverige work both to highlight and report on the skills shortage in the industry and to raise leadership issues, the importance of professional processes in companies and a good working environment and culture, says Einar Humlin.