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FOMO at work isn’t just about missing meetings. It’s the pressure to stay visible, relevant and ahead. When harnessed right, that fear can fuel real growth. The fear of missing out isn’t a new concept. However, it’s evolved over the years. FOMO once meant envying someone else’s vacation. Now, it’s extended into being jealous of others’ career promotions. A OnePoll study found that 69% of Americans have experienced FOMO. For many professionals, especially women in technology, it’s the worry that the next opportunity could pass them by. Yet FOMO in tech tells a bigger story. Women account for nearly half of the overall U.S. workforce but only 22.6% of employees in high-tech, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The result is that women aren’t simply missing out. They’re being overlooked. When FOMO Becomes A Barrier Fear can be both a motivator and a barrier. It drives professionals to learn faster and network harder. But for women, it can also magnify self-doubt and burnout. Acronis, a global technology company specializing in cybersecurity and data protection software, set out to understand why women hesitate to enter or advance in IT. “We first focused inside the company, on what our female employees are experiencing. Then we started to look a bit broader,” explained Alona Geckler, senior vice president of business operations and chief of staff at Acronis. “It turns out that FOMO is one of the biggest barriers, specifically for females.” MORE FOR YOU Geckler’s team surveyed more than 600 participants to understand whether the fear of missing out was simply psychological or structural. The data confirmed what many women already felt: juggling family, career and societal expectations amplifies FOMO far more for women than men. The findings reframed FOMO as a workplace design issue rather than a personal flaw. The Acronis survey, FOMO at Work: The Opportunity Gap Between Men and Women in Tech, revealed how those fears are grounded in inequities. Only 60% of women believe men and women have equal access to career development and growth opportunities, compared with 75% of men. Nearly two-thirds of women (63%) say work-life balance challenges significantly hinder career progression, while just under half of men agree. Alona Geckler, senior vice president of business operations and chief of staff at Acronis, speaking on the women's panel during MSP Global. Sixty-seven percent of women feel they must work longer hours to advance, and 52% worry about missing career-advancing events due to family responsibilities. Bias and stereotypes remain a major barrier, cited by 41% of women as a top reason they struggle to enter or progress in cybersecurity. Yet, optimism persists: 82% of women believe that increasing female leadership would positively impact workplace culture. Together, the study reflects not insecurity, but imbalance, highlighting how systemic factors still shape who feels seen and supported. What leaders can do: Normalize flexibility—Make hybrid work and scheduling autonomy part of the culture, not policy. Encourage self-advocacy—Managers should nudge women to raise their hands before they feel “100% ready.” Invest in mentorship—Structured guidance helps women separate growth from guilt. Redefining The Glass Cliff For many female leaders, advancement comes with a hidden risk. The “glass cliff,” a term coined by researchers at the University of Exeter, describes how women are often appointed to leadership roles during times of crisis or instability. The probability of failure is high and the support systems are thin. It’s the paradox of progress. Melyssa Banda, senior vice president of Edge Storage and Services at Seagate Technology, shared, “Women are often given challenging roles without adequate support. It looks like advancement, but without the scaffolding to succeed.” Her perspective reframes equity as something earned through infrastructure, not optics. “The higher I climb, I have a responsibility to bring people up with me,” Banda explained. “It has to be very deliberate and very intentional. I get concerned that often these initiatives become a checkbox versus very intentional.” Studies from McKinsey and LeanIn.org found that in technical roles, only 52 women were promoted to manager for every 100 men. Once there, they face higher scrutiny and lower tolerance for mistakes. The result is a cycle of symbolic advancement that fails to translate into systemic change. Banda believes breaking that cycle requires re-engineering how opportunity is designed. True inclusion, she argues, depends on building systems that are resourced, not reactive, and that starts with leadership accountability. It means budgeting for mentorship and embedding measurable equity goals into performance metrics. It also requires treating failure as a shared responsibility rather than an individual fault line. Women entering the IT field worldwide are shaping the future of technology and redefining global progress. From FOMO To Impact It’s just not in the U.S. that women face unequal access. In some parts of the world, women in technology face even greater challenges in accessing education, mentorship and opportunities. According to the World Economic Forum, women make up only 28% of the global STEM workforce, and in many developing regions, that figure drops below 20%. Yet as digital economies expand, these same regions also hold the greatest untapped promise. Across Africa, Asia and Latin America, women are entering the tech sector, often outpacing men in digital upskilling programs. Progress requires ecosystems that translate access into advancement. In Uganda, that transformation is already underway. With 75% of the population under 30 and a rapidly expanding startup ecosystem, the country is poised for a demographic and digital turning point. Kampala now ranks 20th among the world’s fastest-growing emerging tech hubs, and national policy under Vision 2040 places ICT and youth employment at the heart of its development plan. Lisa-Marie “Lila” Lang, partnership manager at Groundbreaker, is leading that shift. Her organization built a full-time residential program for Ugandan young women aged 18 to 25, providing full scholarships, mentorship and career placement support. “Talent is universal, but opportunities are not,” Lang said. Her team is closing that gap by turning potential into participation. Groundbreaker’s program boasts a 93% graduation rate, 100% job placement within three months, and an average 26-fold increase in individual income from roughly $10 a month to sustainable tech salaries. Additionally, one-third of its graduates now work for international companies. Acronis, Groundbreaker’s long-term partner, has amplified that impact by funding scholarships and pairing its own engineers as mentors. The partnership embodies a new model of corporate collaboration. Ultimately, FOMO in tech reflects collective loss. But when inclusion becomes intentional, fear gives way to possibility. As Geckler reflected, “We must turn fear of missing out into the joy of belonging in tech. The challenge for every organization is to decide whether to keep racing ahead or to ensure no one is left behind.” MORE FROM FORBES Forbes3 Pillars Propelling Women’s Sports Into A New Era Of GrowthBy Cheryl RobinsonForbesHere’s What Happens When Doctors, Patients And Lawmakers Unite To Change HealthcareBy Cheryl RobinsonForbesThe Compound Effect—How Small Daily Habits Shape Lasting LeadershipBy Cheryl Robinson Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions
