The Great Stay – Here's the New Reality for Tech Workers

The continued AI disruption has created a strange contradiction within the tech workforce. As ZDNET notes, workers fear being replaced by AI, yet many are staying precisely to help build the systems that could one day replace them.

It’s a paradox driven by skill scarcity. Indeed found that AI-related skills, such as distributed computing, machine learning frameworks, and model deployment, are in-demand, but notoriously difficult to fill. That pressure forces many employees to stay, upskill, and future-proof themselves rather than risk being left behind.

Another paradox: despite record-low job satisfaction across tech, productivity hasn’t cratered. While dissatisfied workers often result in higher turnovers and lower yield, workers are still performing. However, fear and uncertainty — not motivation — have become their performance drivers.

For companies, this fear-fueled stability may look like a win for KPIs and profit targets, but it’s at the expense of employee health and wellbeing. The rise of extreme work cultures — like the 996 system creeping into Silicon Valley AI startups — shows how “stability” now comes with a cost. Some reports even describe tech employees working 100-hour weeks to stay relevant in the AI race.

Clearly, teams are stretched thin as layoffs pile more work on fewer people. What once looked like freedom — flexible work, lucrative roles, endless options — now feels like a trap.

But when fear dictates behavior more than ambition, long hours and fast-paced work environments no longer lead to innovation, but to disengagement and burnout.