eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Workers at Google earn the best pay relative to other tech companies, while Facebook employees are the most satisfied and those at IBM stay the longest, according new data released today from PayScale Inc.
Overall, when holding all else constant, median pay for Google employees is 23 percent higher than similar workers performing similar roles at other companies and over 10 percent higher than similar workers at the other big tech companies, according to PayScale’s Technology Company Salary and Job Satisfaction Report, which examined the characteristics of the following tech companies (excluding retail workers): Amazon, Apple, Dell, Facebook, Google, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel and Microsoft.
The “worst” paid workers are at Hewlett-Packard. Holding all else constant, workers at HP typically earn 5 percent less than similar workers at all other employers and earn about 15 percent less than similar workers at the other big tech companies.
Employees of IBM tend to stay at IBM, according to PayScale research, with the average tenure at IBM at eight years, which is about six years longer than the tenure at the other tech firms. Similarly, IBM workers tend to be the oldest: The typical age of workers at IBM is 44.
The report found workers at Facebook are relatively young; a typical worker at Facebook is only 26, compared with a typical age of 36 across the other companies. Workers at Facebook are the most satisfied with their jobs, while those at HP are the least satisfied. Researchers noted that while Facebook employees may be the most satisfied with their work, they are also some of the most stressed.
Other findings indicated female employees are still a minority at the big tech firms: On average, only 25 percent of the employees at the tech companies are female (compared with over 50 percent of employees at all companies). The report also found Microsoft is the most flexible tech company when it comes to determining work and vacation schedules.
“With a CEO who is 27, it is not surprising to find many who work at Facebook are young, excited to work there and a little stressed out,” said Al Lee, director of quantitative analysis at PayScale. “IBM celebrates its 100th anniversary this year; the workforce is a little grayer than Facebook, but the employees’ tenure at IBM testifies that it is still a great place to work.”
The report included details such as common jobs; typical pay; typical pay premium over market; typical tenure at the company and employees’ typical years of experience within their career/field; demographics, including typical age and gender; job soft features such as typical job satisfaction levels, typical stress levels and degree of flexibility in work/vacation schedules; common benefits and perks relative to the average employer; and typical weeks of vacation.
“Not only do many of the large tech companies pay their typical employees well into the six figures-not surprising given the large number of well-paid engineers on staff-they also pay a premium of as much as 23 percent above typical pay for the same kind of employees working at ‘normal’ companies,” said Lee.