It’s a conundrum: tech firms are hiring, salaries are rising, but attracting the right talent seems to be getting harder not easier.
Some people are concluding that the talent is missing. But there’s growing evidence to support a different theory.
This isn’t just a talent shortage. Increasingly, it’s an employer brand issue.
TL;DR
- Tech firms are losing candidates before interview due to reputation
- Culture, values and leadership behaviour now drive decisions
- The companies winning are making their culture and values visible and believable
The paradox: hiring growth, declining attraction
Technology is a growing sector – a Deloitte report in 2025 revealed there are more than 34,000 high-growth tech companies in the UK.
The Sunday Times 100 Tech Survey claimed Britain’s fastest-growing tech firms are offering £40k salaries to tempt graduates. Some entry level roles, at Fuse Energy and MiFinity, paid £60k and Cambridge’s Cycle Pharmaceuticals as high as £100k.
The fight for talent in tech is clearly intensifying and costing the sector more money each year. Getting your employer reputation right therefore, is a commercial opportunity, and not getting it right is a commercial risk.
A survey commissioned by Midnight showed employees are willing to make big decisions based on perceived employer reputation.
- 15% decided not to apply for a role because of perceived company reputation.
- 17% declined a job offer for the same reason.
- 7% left a job for the same reason.
Take a deeper dive into our research here.
It’s clear that employees are opting out when an employer is perceived to have poor reputation or culture.
You can pay £40k, £60k or even £100k. But if people don’t trust your business, it may not be enough.
What’s really going wrong
1. The visibility gap
If people cannot quickly understand what you do and what you stand for, they move on.
As part of our research, we set up a focus group of students from the University of Sussex to gauge their views on employer brand reputation and discover how they assessed it.
They told us that in some cases it was difficult to understand what an employer does, even from their own website or social channels, let alone assess its culture.
That’s a big problem. Many firms may believe their reputation is well understood, but for candidates it is often unclear or invisible.
The students all cared deeply about culture, especially when it came to work-life balance and inclusion.
If that’s the choice of a generation, then technology businesses should think harder about how they communicate what their brand is about.
2. Values are a filter, not a bonus
92% of tech employees want an employer who shares their values.
That’s 10% above the national average and joint top alongside insurance across all sectors covered by the survey.
It means that people are not just choosing jobs, they are choosing alignment.
The number one value listed in tech was honesty and integrity with 60% – the highest figure for that metric across all sectors.
Respect for others, compassion and kindness, and treating people equally all featured in the top five.
If these are the values that really matter to future and current employees, how convincingly is your business talking in this space?
3. Your reputation is in your employee’s hands
Today’s job candidates look to other employees in the first instance to judge a business’ reputation.
- 54% in the tech sector said employee reviews and online commentary were the sources they trusted most when deciding whether to apply for a role.
- 57% mentioned how current employees talk about the business.
This is a test that goes beyond how you talk – it’s about whether your culture is resonating with the people that already work for you and those who used to.
4. Leadership is part of the problem – and the solution
Reputation stands for little if the leader of a business doesn’t live up to it.
We’ve seen that with Elon Musk after Tesla suffered an 800 billion dent in its stock market value in 2025 following a backlash against his political role in the Trump administration.
It even led to US Tesla facilities facing protests and vandalism in what was dubbed as a “Tesla Takedown”.
It’s a lesson that people expect CEOs to mirror their values – and react negatively when they don’t.
They are increasingly engaged in following them, too.
For that reason, silence is not the answer. In fact, keeping quiet comes with risk because communicating culture, purpose and ethos is the best way to be visible and to convince others that your principles are genuine.
- 86% of tech employees say the public profile of a company’s CEO influences whether they would apply for a role or stay in a role.
Employer brand: what works now
Treat employer reputation like customer reputation – the same level of focus, the same level of investment
Improve and prove your culture. Tell stories and prove them with real examples. It’s not enough to SAY you value people. Prove it.
Make your values real. Documents aren’t enough – show it in how you hire, promote and communicate.
What this looks like in reality
Nvidia was named number one on the 2026 Great Place To Work UK Best Workplaces (Large) list.
It is led by enigmatic CEO and founder Jensen Huang, renowned for his philanthropy and culture setting and named Person of the Year by the Financial Times in 2025.
In the Great Place to Work survey:
- 97% said Nvidia is a great place to work
Why?
- 99% say people are treated fairly regardless of their sexual orientation
- 97% say people are treated fairly regardless of race
- 98% say they are treated fairly regardless of their age
When you set the right culture, your people become your advocates.
99% of employees at Nvidia said they are proud to tell others I work here.
Reputation is shaped in moments, not campaigns.
Narwhal Labs: who feels welcome?
Narwhal Labs, a British AI company, suffered serious reputational damage when it ran a sexist advert for its new AI tool with the headline: “She outworks everyone. And she’ll never ask for a raise’.
The strapline, picked up in a story by the Guardian was equally tone deaf, adding: “meet your new AI employee. Always on, never sick and no HR required.”
For job candidates, it answered a simple question: Do people like me belong here?
In seconds, the answer became no.
Values are judged externally.
Palantir: trust beyond the product
Palantir, a US-based company that develops data integration and analytics platforms, is booming and winning UK government contracts.
But even high-performing businesses can be hit by a reputational crisis when the leader gets it wrong.
A thousand-word post on X by CEO Alex Karp garnered 30 million views and made unwanted headlines.
In it he criticised the belief that all cultures are equal, called for universal national service and backed AI weapons.
“Every alarm bell for democracy must ring,” Prof Shannon Vallor, chair of ethics of data and AI at Edinburgh University, told the BBC.
Reputation is not all about success, it’s about trust. If stakeholders question your ethos, candidates will too. And honestly? So will potential clients.
The flip side: what good looks like
The companies recognised as the UK’s best workplaces in tech are not doing anything complicated.
They are doing the basics well:
- Making culture visible.
- Keeping messaging consistent.
- Backing up claims with proof.
SAP, ranked number one in Glassdoor’s 2026 Best Places to Work in the UK, was applauded for flexible hours, good work-life balance and cutting-edge tech.
Kraken, a British energy tech company, made it number seven thanks to its climate impact mission and collaborative, friendly global team spirit.
These aspects are what turn heads in the employment market.
For firms in the technology sector that get their reputation and culture right:
- 47% recommended an employer based on perceived reputation
- 45% applied for a role for the same reason
- 34% accepted a role for the same reason
Get this right and your employees will become your ambassadors.
The change businesses need to make
There’s strong evidence that talent shortage is not the underlying issue in tech attraction.
The real problem is that tech businesses aren’t explaining or showcasing their culture in the right way.
For modern employees that’s a red flag.
Putting it right involves a shift in focus:
- From messaging to evidence
- From statements to behaviour
- From employer brand to lived experience
Wrap-up
Employer brand reputation requires a strategic show and tell approach.
One that embraces an ever-increasing desire from employees to work for companies that share their values.
Our survey has unveiled the hard truths in modern in tech attraction and retention.
- If your story isn’t clear, people won’t wait.
- If it isn’t believable, they won’t engage
- If they cannot find proof it’s real, they won’t join or stay
- If your leadership isn’t visible, they won’t trust the brand
Find out if your employer brand is helping or hurting your hiring.
Take our 2-minute scorecard
Or get in touch to see how we help tech firms turn reputation into a growth advantage.
