Since the start of 2023, more than 200,000 employees have been laid off from tech companies. To cope with the stress, an increasing number of tech leaders are turning to drugs and alcohol, exacerbating the
Over a third of tech leaders have reported increasing their alcohol intake, according to a recent Censuswide survey, while another third upped their use of controlled substances to deal with layoff stress. Poor mental health plagues the group as a whole, as 36% of senior leaders are on antidepressants and almost half use painkillers, such as Oxytocin, to manage work anxiety.
"[Tech leaders] are responsible for not only themselves and the companies that they're working for, but also have responsibilities to the public," says Dr. Phillip Hemphill, chief clinical officer at APN, an addiction treatment center. "They have an increased level of accountability for their actions, and for the decisions that they make."
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From free laundry services to gourmet meals, Silicon Valley was long known for workplace environments filled with benefits, high salaries and fun perks. For years, the industry dominated the market and underwent a massive hiring boom. The economic uncertainty of a post-pandemic world, however, has changed things, leaving many leaders in crisis.
Academic research demonstrates just how devastating layoffs can be for people's mental and physical health. Layoffs have been shown to increase the likelihood of suicide by about 2.5 times and early mortality rates by 15-20%, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. Those doing the firing also face dire consequences: managers who issue notices report increased health issues, sleep problems, and even feelings of depersonalization. For many, alcohol and drugs have become a means for escape, Hemphill says.
"In addition to all of the trauma that people have been through in the past three years, their way of coping with these things is to use substances," he says. "People feel that this is what life is and that you use controlled substances to adapt."
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It doesn't help that a culture of substance use has become normalized within tech, leading to the potential for abuse. Almost a third of tech leaders say that they consume alcohol or controlled substances while on the job, according to the Censuswide survey.
Although tech giants like Google and Amazon offer several mental health benefits, such as free counseling, Hemphill says that employees often feel that such services function as a sort of internal surveillance system and are hesitant to use them. Over a third of tech leaders avoid seeking treatment for mental health issues and addiction in fear that colleagues or family would judge them, according to Censuswide. Another 30% fear losing their job if they seek help.
With peoples' livelihoods potentially on the line, employees sometimes aren't willing to take the risk and
"I began to experience very severe levels of anxiety," said a former Amazon employee, who spent more than 11 years in a leadership role, on the anonymous job posting site Blind. "I constantly worried about the effects of anxiety on my performance. During those months I slipped in a dark place of deep suffering and poor mental health. I felt that the only way to end my suffering was to leave Amazon."
The stress layoffs are causing may be more struggle than they are worth. Multiple studies have demonstrated that layoffs don't actually improve company performance for employees left behind, and the financial cost to an employer can be great. A study on Fortune 1000 firms from 2003 and 2007 found that layoffs failed to offer any immediate financial returns. Meanwhile, severance and continued health insurance coverage can diminish sought-after profit margins, according to the Harvard Business Review.
While the tech industry has hit a bump, it's a field infamous for its ability to bounce back, Hempill says. He recommends employers take time to respond, rather than react in an impulsive and damaging way — for both the health of the business, and their own well-being.
"I know people are having a heightened response and fear around some of the changes that are being made in the tech industry," says Hemphill. "But, I also think that there's incredible prosperity for the future in the tech industry. I think that leaders just have to adapt and assimilate to the differences of the different generations."
