The UK is at risk of suffering a ‘brain drain’, with just over a quarter of both blue and white collar workers saying that they would prepared to move overseas in order to improve their job prospects.
According to a survey of 30,556 working adults in 29 countries undertaken by employment engagement researchers GfK NOP Engage, some 7.5 million UK employees or 27% of the total workforce would be willing to change countries to get a better job.
The figure rose to 36% among young qualified staff aged 18 to 29, with qualifications appearing to be a key determinant of individual’s keenness to up sticks. Some 31% of first degree holders said that they would be happy to migrate to a new country, while the figure rose to 38% among those with postgraduate qualifications. It dropped to 23% among those educated to secondary school-level only, however.
Sukhi Ghataore, GfK NOP Engage’s director, said: “Our findings indicate Britain has a risk of ‘brain drain’ in the coming year, posing significant problems for companies looking to recover from the downturn.”
Even if a fraction of the blue collar (27%) and white collar (26%) workers who said they were willing to look overseas for work did so, UK businesses would face a significant loss of talent just at the time they needed it most, she added.
To make matters worse, some 23% or 6.5 million workers said they were looking to change employer this year.
But interest in changing countries to work was not limited to the UK. Even in the US and Canada, where workers are stereotyped for that lack of interest in working abroad, some 21% and 20% respectively said they would now be happy to move. Top of the migration list were workers in Mexico (57%), Colombia (52%) and Turkey (46%), however.
“For many employees, moving country is no more daunting than moving company. Companies looking to recruit, engage and retain the best staff need to compete, not just against rivals in their own nations and markets, but from right around the world,” Ghataore said.
Staff working for multinational organisations were the most likely of all to look abroad for work, which suggests that allowing them to work overseas was “not just a perk but a valuable retention tool”, she added.
