What motivates top technology talent when looking for a new role?

These highly sought after individuals have the opportunity to work wherever they like, across many industries, so any insight into their inspiration is worthy of note.

Travel technology leaders Amadeus have taken a shot at answering the question with a new report, Innovating the Culture of Tomorrow.

The work – which questioned 2,200 technology professionals from eight markets (India, France, Spain, Turkey, Colombia, Philippines, USA, and the UK) in the third quarter of this year – found a remarkably consistent answer, innovation.

Indeed, technology professionals chose ‘being innovative’ as the single most important factor when selecting a potential employer, ahead of salary.

Being perceived as innovative was so important, that the average technology professional said they would consider taking a 21 per cent pay cut to work with the leading brand in their sector, the research found.

Moving beyond aspiration, respondents at innovative companies were also over five times more likely (43 per cent) than those at non-innovative companies (eight per cent) to say they were ‘very happy’ at work.

Conversely, global tech workers at companies not perceived to be innovative were four times more likely to say they were thinking about leaving within the next year.

Professor James Berry, founder of the UCL MBA, contributed to the report which explores the motivations of technology professionals

As Ana Doval de las Heras, Senior Vice President, People & Culture with Amadeus, explained to Breaking Travel News: “Our work here at Amadeus is based on technology innovation and this innovation is delivered by technology professionals, so we embarked on this project to deepen our understanding of them.

“Innovation emerged as the key motivator, and we understand technology companies must create a safe, attractive environment for technology professionals, offering a chance to develop and promote innovative ideas.

“We do that in a number of ways here at Amadeus, with Lift being a great example.

“Our internal programme lets our teams put forward new ideas, with the best selected, to be funded and developed – a great way to create innovation across the company.

“Nexwave is another example, a technology incubator working to identify the next generation of technology, while Amadeus Ventures, our corporate investment programme, works to invest in start-ups.”

Innovating the Culture of Tomorrow questioned more than 2,000 technology industry leaders from around the world

The Amadeus research also finds the image of technology leaders playing ping-pong and sitting on beanbags may need to be updated.

Instead, tech workers observe that providing a ‘buzzy environment’ (13 per cent) and recreational activities on-site (31 per cent) were the least helpful in fostering innovation.

Instead, going back to basics with improved technology (56 per cent), physical tools like the right desks and equipment (53 per cent), and a quiet space (49 per cent) as well as facilities to meet with the team face to face to brainstorm and test ideas (48 per cent) were seen as the most conducive to promoting innovation. 

As professor James Berry, founder of the UCL MBA, who collaborated on the new report, explains: “One of the interesting findings from Innovating the Culture of Tomorrow was a closer look at the office - what is it that draws colleagues in?

“Companies want employees in the office, in order to bring people together, to create innovation opportunities, but, conversely, employees do not want to come in if they are going to be sitting at a desk alone.

“They want to come in if it has meaning and adds value – and creating spaces to foster that is important.

“If I am coming in, and I am learning from my colleagues, then that adds value – and that has come through in this report - I have an opportunity to brainstorm with peers, that adds value.

“People are willing to come to the office if they can see it is in the service of being innovative, of adding value – though we are still finding a new equilibrium post-pandemic.”

He added: “It is important to remember a number of companies are innovative, making a real-world difference.”

“We hear a lot about Google, Meta and Apple in the United States, but there are European champions too, of which Amadeus is one.

“These are companies that have a tangible impact on our lives, and post-pandemic, I think a lot of us value travel more than ever.”

A chance to work for an innovative organisation was seen as key to motivating top technology talent

When it comes to the new world of work, Doval argues flexibility is key.

“Flexibility is one of the most important parts of our value proposition here at Amadeus, an attractive asset for our teams.

“We offer flexible schedules, across a hybrid arrangement, with teams allowed to work for half the time at home, with half in the office.

“We believe this balance has been successful, matching the needs of the individual with those of the organisation.

“Amadeus has a culture based on a sense of purpose, based on belonging, based on caring – and it is important to welcome newcomers into this culture,” she added.

“This can only be done in the office, where networking and role models can be found.

“We also recently launched ‘workcation’ – with our teams offered 30 working days a year from anywhere in the world.”

Opportunities to collaborate were also highly prized

In a competitive and rapidly evolving landscape, technology professionals also highly value their own skills and work to keep them up to date.

As such, training was revealed as a key focus.

Some 40 per cent of technology professionals, finds Amadeus, anticipate having to pivot their careers at least three times to keep up with emerging technologies, like Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), extended reality and cloud computing.

Only six per cent of respondents globally considered that they would not have to evolve their roles at all. 

Around a quarter (24 per cent) of global technology professionals believe the company they work for currently does not invest enough in their training.

Aside from financial incentives, half (48 per cent) rank training on new technologies as a key factor to prevent them from moving elsewhere.

This focused training was prioritised considerably above reduced workload (24 per cent), feeling cared for as an individual (30 per cent) and achieving a better work/life balance (36 per cent).

Doval continues: “At Amadeus, we are not just about offering a job, we offer long-term opportunities, working alongside our partners.

“Right from the onboarding process, we want our people to stay, to grow with us.

“We want to see people expand their possibilities – and you have to create an environment which is safe, where there is no discrimination, and nobody is left behind.

“When we ask our people at Amadeus, 84 per cent of our teams plan to stay for more than three years – which is a very high figure for a technology company.

“When asked if they feel we are innovative, our teams rate us above four out of five, which is again positive.

“Our teams want to stay, want to build careers and in return, they expect us to provide the tools they need to thrive.”

Technology leaders are looking for opportunities to deliver real-world value

Elsewhere, four-in-five (79 per cent) technology professionals want the company they work for to evidence its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) credentials.

Among the technology roles questioned, AI engineers were the most likely (53 per cent) to rank a company being able to prove its DE&I credentials as ‘very important’ – 33 per cent above average.

This marked spike among AI engineers is particularly interesting against the wider context of growing concerns about biases being inadvertently built into AI models.

Creating the right psychological environment is also key.

Around one in five tech workers (18 per cent) do not feel they are encouraged to be innovative at work with a further 11 per cent believing they do not have the freedom to experiment with their ideas, whether they succeed or fail.

Positively, almost two in three (63 per cent) technology professionals feel comfortable talking about their mental health at work – but there is work still to be done.

Nearly a fifth of those questioned said they would be actively uncomfortable (17 per cent) with a further 20 per cent of people undecided if they would feel comfortable talking about their mental health at work. 

Doval added: “This was one of the more surprising findings - there are concerns around psychological safety and we still have a little homework to do here.

“Since Covid-19, mental health has been on the table, and technology professionals are concerned there is not enough room, or an appropriate environment, to openly discuss this issue.

“The report has allowed us to refocus on psychological safety – this is a really important issue.

“This is something we are working on, we have a head of mental wellbeing at Amadeus, and we recently launched an initiative based around Global Wellness Day.

“But this is an area where we must put even more focus in 2025.

“At Amadeus, we are vigilant about what is happening outside of our company, this is one of the reasons we commissioned this study.

“We do not sit and wait, we want to find out what motivates technology professional – if things change, we want to know, and to make changes inside our business.

“We are constantly listening.”