24 FORTUNE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
Jersey was first).
But moving into a
cultural war zone isn’t
exactly what many tech
workers had in mind.
When it comes to the
Texas antiabortion bill, a
recent survey of over 1,000
U.S. adults conducted
by PerryUndem for the
Tara Health Foundation
found roughly two-thirds
reported the bill would
discourage them from
working in the state. And
64% say they would not
apply for a job in any state
that passed a ban like
Texas’s.
Those are troublesome
stats for employers at a
time when nationwide la-
bor shortages are the norm
and the war for talent is
intensifying. So far, there’s
been no noticeable increase
or decrease in Texas hir-
ing trends yet from new
laws passing, according
to LinkedIn’s data team.
However, the team told
Fortune that it’s possible
the impacts will emerge
over time.
Meanwhile about 50
companies from across the
country signed a statement
released Sept. 21 opposing
Texas’s new law, saying that
“restricting access to com-
prehensive reproductive
care, including abortion,
threatens the health, inde-
pendence, and economic
stability of our workers and
customers.”
Starbucks and Microsoft
were among the companies
that declined to partici-
pate, according to the Wall
Street Journal. But “declin-
ing to participate” may not
be a viable strategy in the
long run. Nearly three out
and Uber, which pledged
to cover drivers’ legal fees
if they are sued under
the Texas law for driv-
ing women to abortion
clinics, certainly fall into
this camp. Salesforce has
perhaps gone the furthest,
with CEO Marc Benioff
tweeting, “... if you want
to move we’ll help you exit
TX. Your choice.”
HPE—which relocated
its headquarters from San
Jose to Spring, Texas, in
December—is one com-
pany that’s holding firm.
“There are no plans to
reconsider the decision to
move to Houston, and we’ll
be opening a new campus
in Spring early next year,”
HPE spokesman Adam
Bauer tells Fortune. (He
adds that the move to
Texas was not compulsory
for employees.)
One factor limiting
companies’ options, say
experts, is that neighbor-
ing states may simply
serve up a different array
of hot-button issues.
Challenges to abortion
laws have already been
filed in Texas, as well as
Ohio and Georgia, and
the Supreme Court is set
to hear oral arguments
in December on Missis-
sippi’s law banning most
abortions after 15 weeks.
There’s major outcry
over a highly restrictive
voting rights law that
Georgia passed in March;
meanwhile, 18 states have
already enacted laws as of
July that broadly restrict
residents’ voting access.
To that end, companies
sticking around could,
eventually, help stabilize
the situation. The influx ofcorporations and younger
knowledge workers into
conservative states may
create some political
change from within. As
the Houston Chronicle re-
ports, during the last elec-
tion Democrats saw their
margin of victory grow in
21 counties along Texas’s
Interstate 35, which runs
through the more urban
and diverse Dallas, Waco,
and Austin.
Lauren Kalo, who
recently graduated and
moved to Austin about
three months ago for a
sales role at a major tech
company, tells Fortune
she’s staying put because
she wants to be part of the
resistance. “There have
to be people there that
are going to advocate and
make changes,” Kalo, 22,
says, adding that she has
already attended a Texas
rally for Beto O’Rourke,
who may enter the 2022
gubernatorial race.
In Texas, 62% of voters
ages 18 to 29 voted for
Joe Biden, versus 35% for
Donald Trump, according
to the Center for Informa-
tion and Research on Civic
Learning and Engagement.
Young voters in Florida,
Georgia, and North Caro-
lina also swung for Biden.
Transplants like Kalo will
demand a certain level of
local autonomy for cities,
or urban influence on state
policies, notes Stanford
political science professor
Jonathan Rodden.
Indeed, for conser-
vatives, corporations
leaving probably isn’t
what’s keeping them up
at night—it’s what might
happen if they stay.of four employees, or 74%,
expect their employers to
get involved in societal,
political, and cultural de-
bates, even if those issues
don’t have anything to do
with their business, ac-
cording to a recent survey
by Gartner. About 68% of
employees would consider
quitting their current job
for an opportunity with an
organization that took a
stronger stance on social
issues that were important
to them.
Gartner’s research shows
companies gain ground
when they not only have a
response but they actu-
ally take action. Gartner’s
Kropp says that if people
understand why a com-
pany is making the deci-
sion, it bolsters trust.
Swift moves by ride-
sharing companies LyftTHE BRIEF POLITICS66
%
OF WORKERS SAY
THE ANTIABORTION
LAW DISCOURAGES
THEM FROM TAKING
A JOB IN TEXAS68
%
OF EMPLOYEES WOULD
CHANGE COMPANIES
FOR ONE WITH
STRONGER STANCE
ON SOCIAL ISSUESSOURCES: PERRYUNDEM; GARTNER