Speak Up 2026: Women In Tech Navigate AI, Burnout And A New Definition Of Success

Each year, Ensono surveys 1,500 women in tech across the U.S., U.K., and India to understand what’s really shaping their careers:their wins, worries and what they need from the organizations they work for.

This is our sixth year running the Speak Up survey, and the 2026 data tells the story of a workforce pulling in two directions at once: more capable and confident than ever yet carrying a heavier load than most of us would call sustainable.

Unsurprisingly, AI is a big part of that story. Seventy percent of respondents now rate their AI skills as advanced or expert, nearly double the share who said the same just two years ago. 97% point to at least one real career benefit from AI. That’s genuinely exciting, and it deserves its own deeper conversation, which my colleague Michelle Day will be diving into in a future post.

For now, I want to focus on two findings I can’t stop thinking about: the toll that rising expectations are taking on women in tech, and the increasingly personal ways they’re choosing to define success.

When “more productive” Starts to Mean “more expected”

We’ve watched the return-to-office conversation evolve for a few years now, and this year, more than half of respondents (53%) say their organization is asking for more in-office days than it did twelve months ago. Thirty-six percent are now primarily in-person, up from 28% last year. In-office visibility keeps climbing in importance too: 92% agree that showing up in person matters for career advancement, and nearly two-thirds of in-person employees strongly agree.

The catch is that visibility doesn’t erase the pressures that come with being in the office. Caregiving responsibilities remain the single biggest challenge associated with in-person work for the second year running, cited by 49% of respondents. Layer AI into that picture and it sharpens further: 42% say AI now means they’re expected to produce more work in less time. So even as technology creates real efficiency, it’s also raising the bar for what “enough” looks like.

Maybe that combination helps explain why 87% of women in tech report some level of burnout, with 60% calling it moderate to extreme. That is not a statistic I can read past quickly.

What strikes me most is that none of this traces back to a single policy. It’s expectation stacking: more hours in the building or online, more output per hour, more pressure to always be reachable, more caregiving on top of all of it.

Burnout like this doesn’t get solved with one benefit or one extra remote day. It takes employers being honest with themselves about how much they’re truly asking of people, all at once.

Success is Getting More Personal And More Deliberate

I was thrilled to see that despite all of this, ambition hasn’t dimmed. Eighty-three percent of women in tech still aspire to executive leadership.

What is shifting is how women define a good career. Nearly half say building new skills (49%) and protecting their work-life balance (48%) have become bigger priorities this year, each outranking the pursuit of leadership itself (42%) on their list of what matters most right now.

I found the data on who’s opting out of executive roles especially telling. The top reason isn’t fear or a lack of confidence; it’s satisfaction. Forty-three percent say they’re simply content with the role they’re in, and 41% would rather stay close to hands-on technical work, up from 35% last year. Only 11% cite a lack of confidence, and just 6% point to a skills gap.

These women aren’t talking themselves out of leadership. They’re making an intentional call about where they want to spend their energy.

Ensono’s View: Ambition Shouldn’t Require Burnout as the Entry Fee

This data pushes us toward a harder question than “how do we get more women into leadership?” We need to understand how to make every track, leadership and technical alike, sustainable enough that burnout isn’t the price of ambition.

That means celebrating the real confidence women are building with AI, while refusing to let that confidence turn into an excuse to pile more work onto them. It also means treating deep technical careers as seriously as people-management ones, because the data is clear that many of our most capable people want to keep growing without taking that particular path. And though our data is specific to women, these truths apply to everyone working in today’s tech environment.

Finally, while the caregiving numbers in this report aren’t new to me, they still sting a little every year. The fact that nearly half of women in tech are still weighing caregiving against career is squarely on us as employers to keep solving for, not just sympathize with.

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Frequently Asked Questions:

What is Ensono’s Speak Up report?

Speak Up is Ensono’s annual survey of 1,500 women in tech across the US, U.K., and India, now in its sixth year, examining how AI, return-to-office policies, and burnout are shaping women’s careers in technology.

What percentage of women in tech consider themselves AI experts?

25% of women in tech rate themselves as AI experts in 2026, up from 14% in 2024 — nearly double in two years. Another 45% rate their skills as advanced, meaning 70% overall rate their AI knowledge as advanced or expert.

Does AI reduce workload for women in tech?

Not entirely. While 62% of women in tech say AI has made their workload more manageable, 42% say AI now means they’re expected to produce more work in less time, showing that efficiency gains are often absorbed into higher performance expectations rather than reduced hours.

How many women in tech report burnout?

87% of women in tech report experiencing some level of burnout, with 60% describing it as moderate, very, or extremely severe, according to Ensono’s 2026 Speak Up survey.

Are return-to-office mandates increasing for women in tech?

Yes. 53% of women in tech say their employer now requires more in-office days than a year ago, and 36% are primarily in-person, up from 28% the prior year.

What is the biggest challenge women in tech face with in-person work?

Balancing caregiving responsibilities with work is the top challenge associated with in-person work, cited by 49% of women in tech — the top challenge for the second year in a row.

Do women in tech still want executive leadership roles?

Yes. 83% of women in tech aspire to executive leadership, a figure virtually unchanged year over year despite rising burnout.

Why do some women in tech choose not to pursue leadership roles?

The top reason is satisfaction, not fear: 43% say they’re simply content in their current role, and 41% prefer hands-on technical work (up from 35% the prior year). Only 11% cite lack of confidence and 6% cite a skills gap.

How are women in tech redefining career success in 2026?

Nearly half now prioritize building new skills (49%) and protecting work-life balance (48%) over pursuing leadership itself (42%), signaling a shift toward more personal, deliberate definitions of success beyond promotion.

You can also revisit our Speak Up 2025, 2024, 2022, 2020, and 2019 reports to see how far this conversation has come — and how far we still have to go.