According to the Hill companies are finding their mostly liberal left workforce is becoming a liability on issues like immigration, law enforcement and surveillance.

In the past month, workers at Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Salesforce have organised and written letters calling on CEOs to cancel or review contracts with government agencies whose work the employees say raises ethical questions. It is having an effect too as some companies are actually listening and effectively losing money. 

The groundswell of opposition to many industry practices and projects is forcing executives to revisit their work, a marked shift in how they operate.

David Hess, a University of Michigan Ross School of Business professor on business law and ethics, said employees were looking for companies that have similar views and want to make sure that companies maintain these values.

Tech workers are citing historical examples, saying they don't want to see their companies take on roles that parallel IBM’s work during the Holocaust when it leased Nazi Germany punch card machines that helped them identify and track Jewish people.  They don't want ever to be seen as being on the wrong side of history.

Such concerns spurred workers at Google to organise against the company's Project Maven — an artificial intelligence tool the Pentagon used to improve its drone warfare, according to Gizmodo.

Microsoft employees are pushing CEO Satya Nadella to drop the company’s contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in protest over the agency separating children from families caught crossing the southern border illegally.

Amazon workers banded together to oppose the company selling its facial recognition software to law enforcement agencies out of fears the technology could harm marginalized communities.

Salesforce workers earlier this week penned their own letter to CEO Marc Benioff urging him to review its contract with Customs and Border Protection, also out of concern with the administration's family separation policy.