The Talent Race: Europe vs Asia

 

  My last post on Haier has generously been included in the current HR carnival posted by Abhishek Mittal on his Mumblr blog.   The theme of this carnival is ‘the talent race’, with a particular focus on Asia, although Abhishek hasn’t had many Asian bloggers contributing - the same problem I had when I hosted the ‘international HR carnival’ last year.  It’s strange, particularly given that many of the countries with the highest proportion of bloggers are in Asia.  So if you’re an Asian HR blogger, particularly if you’d like to increase your blog’s profile, do get in touch with us both.

Anyway, I think one of the best posts included in the carnival is from Laura Schroeder (Working Girl) writing at Compensation Cafe: Where has all the talent gone?.  And one of the reports Laura refers to it the Economist’s new Global Talent Index (GTI) report.  Amongst other things, this report concludes:

• NORDIC AND DEVELOPED ASIA PACIFIC COUNTRIES ARE PROMINENT IN THE GTI TOP TEN. Australia and Singapore are strong performers, the former due, among other factors, to its high-quality universities and the latter to its openness to international trade and foreign direct investment.
• CHINA OUTPERFORMS OTHER  COUNTRIES IN THE INDEX. China rises to 31st place in the GTI in 2015 from 33rd in 2011, but more notable is the five-point improvement in its score – the largest increase in 2015 of any country in the index. A major contributor is an expected increase in the country’s willingness to embrace foreign workers.

 

These conclusions aren’t much of a surprise, particularly as I’ve recently seen the Economist’s Robin Bew describing them at the recent Big ReThink and Talent Management summits.  Robin noted that whilst emerging markets will likely come off the boil, the trend was still definitely west to east (see pic).  More instability is forecast too, which I can definitely understand given the growing problems in Greece and its potential knock-on across effects across the rest of Europe and beyond.

So I can certainly relate to the perspectives of respondents to this recent survey by GfK NOP in HR Magazine.

“The GfK International Employee Engagement Study reveals the extent of the brain drain facing Britain, as it struggles to emerge from recession. More than a quarter (27%) of British workers are willing to move country to find a better job, possibly driven by a desire to escape the UK's soaring cost of living and static wages.

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. Both blue collar and white collar workers in the UK show a quarter of their number are willing to look overseas for work - and that figure rises for the higher educated workers. Even if only a fraction of these people actually make the move abroad, UK businesses will face a significant loss of talent, just at the time they most need it….

The findings highlight just how globalised and fluid the labour market has become in many countries. The truth remains that, 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.”

 

I’m certainly up for a move if anyone wants to offer an opportunity.

Perhaps that’s the solution to Abhishek’s Asian blogger shortage?

 

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