Meet Gen Z’s Favorite Tech Employers Of 2022: Glassdoor

‘Amid the pandemic, many employees have had to find a balance between socially conscious companies and other factors such as the stability and security of the companies they work for,’ according to the Glassdoor study.

Workers in Generation Z – that is, people born between 1997 and 2012 – gave their highest ratings to stable companies with a “socially conscious” bent while older workers gave more glowing reviews to smaller employers that haven’t been around for long.

That’s according to a recent study from San Francisco-based online company reviews website Glassdoor, which reviewed its own data for employers with at least 30 reviews left by U.S. full-time employees aged 18 and older from April 1, 2020, to July 15 of this year. The study excluded students, interns and employees in the military, according to Glassdoor.

“Amid the pandemic, many employees have had to find a balance between socially conscious companies and other factors such as the stability and security of the companies they work for,” according to the Glassdoor study.

Gen Z’s highest-rated employers in the technology industry were Microsoft, Google and IBM, according to Glassdoor.

Who Hires Generation Z?

As an example of the socially liberal bent of those employers, recent developments in the United States around abortion access prompted statements from all three companies. A message on the Microsoft LinkedIn account pledged “support for travel expense assistance for medical services covered in our U.S. health plan, when care options, including abortion, are limited in an employee’s home region.”

IBM released a similar statement, saying: “IBM has for decades included coverage for reproductive health services in our U.S. medical plans. That coverage will continue, as will our long-standing policy of ensuring IBMers and their dependents in the U.S. can access covered health services that are not available to them locally.”

Google also covers travel and told employees they can apply to relocate to different states without saying why, according to ABC News.

Meanwhile, workers born before Gen Z – Millennials, Generation X and Baby Boomers – rated MongoDB, Procore Technologies and Nvidia highest among tech employers in Glassdoor’s database. The Non-Gen Z top 10 list featured more technology companies overall than the Gen Z list.

The top tech companies on the non-Gen Z list were younger than Gen Z’s list. MongoDB was founded in 2007, and Procore was founded in 2002. Nvidia was founded in 1993.

For comparison, Microsoft was founded in 1975, Google was founded in 1998 and IBM was founded in 1911.

Here’s more information on the companies rated the highest by these groups, according to Glassdoor.

Gen Z: Microsoft

Microsoft was the highest-rated company for members of Generation Z, receiving an average rating of 4.58.

The Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant has 43,000 reviews on its Glassdoor entry. According to Glassdoor, positive reviews of Microsoft common phrases such as “great benefits,” “great people,” “great culture,” good pay and good work-life balance.

Negative reviews of Microsoft include phrases such as “bad managers,” “poor management,” “long hours” and “too much politics.”

Ninety-seven percent of reviewers approve of CEO Satya Nadella, who is a member of Glassdoor’s top CEOs of 2021. Nadella is also a member of CRN’s “25 most influential executives of 2022.”

Gen Z: Google

Google was the No. 2 company for Gen Zers with an average rating of 4.53, according to the Glassdoor report.

Mountain View, Calif.-based Google has 35,000 reviews on its Glassdoor entry. Common phrases in the positive reviews include “great benefits” and “people are great.” Common phrases in the negative reviews include “long hours” and “bad management,” according to Glassdoor.

Glassdoor concluded in its report that more stable companies averaged higher ratings with Gen Z. Indeed, Google is one of the youngest companies on the Gen Z employer list. It was founded in 1998.

Ninety-three percent of reviewers approve of CEO Sundar Pichai, according to Glassdoor. Google’s cloud division, Google Cloud, has 358 reviews on its individual entry on Glassdoor, with an average rating of 3.9.

Gen Z: IBM

IBM was the third-highest ranking tech company on Glassdoor’s list for Gen Z employers, but No. 9 overall on the list. IBM had an average rating of 4.25.

After Microsoft and Google, financial services company Morgan Stanley ranked third on the list. Grocery store chain Trader Joe’s ranked No. 4. Logistics company Total Quality Logistics was fifth, followed by carmaker General Motors and financial services company Fidelity Investments.

Financial services company Bank of America ranked ahead of IBM with an average score of 4.26, according to Glassdoor.

The entry on Glassdoor for Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM has 93,000 reviews, with a 90 percent approval rating for CEO Arvind Krishna. Krishna is a member of CRN’s “25 most influential executives of 2022.”

Positive reviews for IBM include phrases about good work-life balance, work-from-home and flexible hours. Negative reviews mention low pay and poor management, according to Glassdoor.

Non-Gen Z: MongoDB

The top-ranked employer for workers old than Generation Z was MongoDB, which achieved an average rating of 4.89. That average rating was still higher than the top employers for Gen Z.

New York-based MongoDB – a database software vendor – has about 1,000 reviews on its Glassdoor entry. The company is also a member of CRN’s 2022 Big Data 100.

Positive reviews of the company mention a “great culture” and “great people.” Negative reviews focus on company benefits, according to Glassdoor.

Non-Gen Z: Procore Technologies

No. 2 on Glassdoor’s list for non Gen Z employers is Procore Technologies, which received an average rating of 4.8.

The Carpinteria, Calif.-based vendor of construction management software has a channel partner program, according to Procore’s website. Members include IT consultancy Highpoint, managed services provider Calance and reseller Aktion Associates. Aktion is a member of CRN’s 2022 Solution Provider 500.

Positive reviews on Procore’s Glassdoor page focus on company culture and the people. Negative reviews focus on managers and pay, according to Glassdoor. The company has about 800 reviews in total.

Non-Gen Z: Nvidia

Nvidia ranked No. 3 among tech companies on Glassdoor’s non-Gen Z employers list with an average rating of 4.73.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker ranked No. 5 overall on the list, with credit reporting company Experian and real estate brokerage eXp Realty ranking ahead of Nvidia.

The entry for Nvidia on Glassdoor has about 4,000 reviews. Positive reviews mentioned smart employees and a “great culture.” Negative reviews include comments on work-life balance and managers, according to Glassdoor.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has a 98 percent approval rating on the company’s Glassdoor page. He also ranked on CRN’s “top 25 IT innovators of 2022.”

Non-Gen Z: ServiceNow

ServiceNow ranked fourth among tech companies – No. 6 overall – on the non-Gen Z employers list. The company received an average rating of 4.72.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based IT operations management software vendor has about 3,000 reviews on its Glassdoor entry. Positive reviews cite the company culture and quality of employees as pros. Negative reviews criticize the quality of managers, according to Glassdoor.

ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott has a 97 percent approval rating on the company’s Glassdoor entry. McDermott also ranked on CRN’s 25 most influential executives of 2022.

Non-Gen Z: HubSpot

HubSpot ranked fifth among tech companies on the non-Gen Z employer list, No. 7 overall. Its average rating was 4.65.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform provider has about 2,000 reviews on its Glassdoor page.

Positive reviews touch on the company culture and people. Negative reviews focused on pay and diversity, according to Glassdoor.

Non-Gen Z: Intuit And LinkedIn (Tie)

Tying for No. 8 overall – sixth among technology companies – on Glassdoor’s non-Gen Z list was financial technology company Intuit and Microsoft’s social media subsidiary LinkedIn. The two companies scored an average rating of 4.63.

Mountain View, Calif.-based Intuit – which owns TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks and Mailchimp – has about 9,000 reviews on its entry page on Glassdoor.

Positive reviews comment on the company’s benefits and people. Negative reviews criticize the management, according to Glassdoor.

Company CEO Sasan Goodarzi had a 96 percent rating on the Intuit page. Goodarzi also ranked on CRN’s top 25 IT innovators of 2022 list.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based LinkedIn’s Glassdoor entry has about 6,000 reviews. Positive reviews discuss the culture and people. Negative reviews touch on management, according to Glassdoor.

Non-Gen Z: Smartsheet

The final company on the non-Gen Z list is Smartsheet, which reached an average rating of 4.58 – tying with the average rating for Gen Z’s No. 1 ranked company, Microsoft.

Notably, even though Bellevue, Wash.-based work management platform Smartsheet is the No. 10 employer for non-Gen Z workers, its average rating is the same as Microsoft’s, the top employer for Gen Z.

Smartsheet’s Glassdoor entry has about 600 reviews. Positive reviews mention the company’s culture and benefits. Negative reviews discuss pay and diversity, according to Glassdoor.

The company has a partner program, with participating partners including Aptude, Huron and Echo Consulting, according to Smartsheet’s website.