Nearly Two-Thirds of Workers Globally Say They Would Take Job Abroad, Study Finds

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY--(Marketwired - Oct 5, 2014) - Almost two in every three job seekers globally say they would be willing to move abroad for work, a startlingly high proportion that says a lot about the evolving marketplace for talent, according to a new study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), one of the world's leading management consultancies, and The Network, a global alliance of more than 50 leading recruitment websites. A report based on the study is being released today on www.bcgperspectives.com.

The proportion of people willing to work abroad is particularly high in countries that are still developing economically or are experiencing political instability. But there is also a very high willingness to work abroad in some countries that don't have these challenges. For example, more than 75 percent of survey respondents in Switzerland, more than 80 percent of respondents in Australia, and more than 90 percent of respondents in the Netherlands say they would consider moving to another country for work, according to the report, Decoding Global Talent: 200,000 Survey Responses on Global Mobility and Employment Preferences.

BCG and The Network surveyed job seekers in 189 countries to learn what factors motivate them and which countries they would consider moving to. The study partners also conducted in-depth interviews with more than 50 survey takers, including engineers, medical researchers, project managers, and government workers. These interviews bring a human dimension to the numbers and offer an additional window into what workers today are looking for, including the 64 percent who say they would be willing to pull up stakes and start fresh in a new country.

"It's a world in which the geographic barriers to employment are coming down, including in the minds of some of the most talented and highly educated workers," says Rainer Strack, a BCG senior partner and one of the report's four coauthors. "This is opening up significant opportunities for individuals and for the many countries and multinational companies that are facing talent shortages of one sort or another."

The U.S. is the top foreign work destination, seen as appealing by 42 percent of job seekers in the study. Next most appealing are two other English-speaking countries: the UK and Canada, cited by 37 percent and 35 percent of survey takers, respectively. Most of the remaining countries among the top ten work destinations, starting with Germany, are European countries that have strong economies, famous cultural attractions, or both.

"People have never made their career choices strictly on the basis of what happens when they're at work," says Mike Booker, managing director of The Network and another of the report's coauthors. "There's always an implicit calculation of what the job will allow them to do in their off-time. The difference in the more mobile work environment of today is that workers are applying that filter to job possibilities outside their home countries."

One of the more significant findings in Decoding Global Talent has to do with what makes people feel motivated in the workplace -- not just those willing to work abroad, but people everywhere. While money still matters, the survey provides strong evidence that intrinsic rewards have pushed past strictly financial considerations as the most important determinant of workplace satisfaction. Survey takers as a whole cite appreciation for their work as their number-one priority. Two other "soft" factors -- good relationships with colleagues and good work-life balance -- come in second and third.

"The economic struggles of many countries since 2008 have prompted many people to focus on the inherent satisfactions of work, rather than on things that may depend on what's happening in the larger economy," says Andrea Strohmayr, international operations manager at The Network and a report coauthor. "That said, the shift toward workplaces that have a more collegial atmosphere and an expectation of positive feedback has some deeper root causes and is likely to be with us for a long time."

Decoding Global Talent paints a picture of a global workforce that is startling in its diversity. Here are a few findings.

• Although Western Europeans are often grouped together, willingness to move abroad for work varies significantly among countries. In both Britain and Germany, a mere 44 percent say they would be willing to work abroad. That's less than half the proportion of Dutch who are willing to move for work and considerably below Swiss willingness as well.
  
  
• Occupation has a big influence on mobility. People who work in engineering and technical jobs are the most likely to consider a job abroad. Those in more tightly regulated fields, such as social work and medicine, are the least mobile.
  
  
• Age has a big impact on what workers look for in the workplace. People focus on career development in their twenties and on work-life balance in their thirties and forties as family responsibilities peak. As people get older, these factors fade in importance and the content of work -- its intrinsic appeal --takes on added significance for most workers.
  
  
• In countries with high per capita incomes, willingness to work abroad is usually tied to experiential factors, not economic ones. This is true of Swiss, U.S., German, and British workers, all of whom are the subject of standalone analyses that appear online along with Decoding Global Talent.
  
  
• Would-be expatriates don't just think in terms of countries; they think in terms of cities, putting London first, New York second, and Paris third in terms of desirability. As one Turkish job seeker says in the report, "If you ask a young person in this country, 'Where do you want to go in the UK?,' they'll never say Liverpool or Manchester. They all say London because of... the cultural harmonization."
  
  

"The increasing mobility of the global workforce and the shift in worker preferences, has huge implications," says Carsten von der Linden, a principal at The Boston Consulting Group and a coauthor of the report. "If they fail to see what's happening, government policy makers and HR executives at multinational companies might find themselves watching as their most gifted workers emigrate and do not return. It'll be much better to be on the other side of that equation."

The data gathered for Decoding Global Talent provides insights into worker attitudes by gender, marital status, education level, salary level, and position in the job hierarchy. This data will be at the core of a series of additional publications growing out of Decoding Global Talent that BCG and The Network will publish in the coming months.

To download a copy of the report, please visit www.bcgperspectives.com.

To arrange an interview with one of the authors, contact Eric Gregoire at +1 617 850 3783 or gregoire.eric@bcg.com or Michael Cavacini at +1 215 735 3470 ext. 170 or mcavacini@brownsteingroup.com.

About The Boston Consulting Group
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and the world's leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with clients from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors in all regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their enterprises. Our customized approach combines deep insight into the dynamics of companies and markets with close collaboration at all levels of the client organization. This ensures that our clients achieve sustainable competitive advantage, build more capable organizations, and secure lasting results. Founded in 1963, BCG is a private company with 81 offices in 45 countries. For more information, please visit bcg.com.

About The Network
The Network is a global alliance of more than 50 leading recruitment websites, committed to finding the best talent in over 130 countries. Founded in 2002, The Network has become the global leader in online recruitment, serving more than 2,000 global corporations. We offer these corporations a single point of contact in their home countries, and allow them to work in a single currency and with a single contract -- while giving them access to a global workforce. The recruitment websites in The Network attract almost 200 million unique visitors each month. For more information, please visit www.the-network.com.

About bcgperspectives.com
Bcgperspectives.com features the latest thinking from BCG experts as well as from CEOs, academics, and other leaders. It covers issues at the top of senior management's agenda. It also provides unprecedented access to BCG's extensive archive of thought leadership stretching back 50 years to the days of Bruce Henderson, the firm's founder and one of the architects of modern management consulting. All of our content -- including videos, podcasts, commentaries, and reports -- can be accessed by PC, mobile, iPad, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.