From Attrition to Attraction — Why It’s Time to Start Thinking About Global Hiring Hubs
In an increasingly hyper-competitive job market, finding talent can be challenging. Recruiting the right people is the main difficulty companies are currently facing in the global marketplace.
What is the best strategy to help overcome talent shortages? How can you hire top talent quickly and seamlessly before your competitors do? And how can hiring globally help achieve this?
These are some of the topics covered by Nick Adams, Vice President of Sales at G-P, during his presentation at PANGEO 2022.
The talent shortage myth — where did my talent go?
The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic sparked an intense conversation about a large talent shortage preventing companies from filling open positions. Cities once full of highly skilled employees suddenly found themselves empty, which created a problem for those stuck in the 9-5 office work format.
What at first looked like a global crisis, however, slowly proved to be a sort of collective mentality shift on the employee side that, when not incorporated and responded to quickly enough by the employer side, generated a mismatch between supply and demand.
As Adams noted, positions weren’t vacant due to a lack of people available to work. Talent is out there. It’s everywhere — companies just have to expand the scope when looking for them.
Why should I believe in remote work?
The last couple of years saw one of the greatest remote work experiments the world has ever seen. And with the belief gone that workers need to be confined in an office all day long to do their job, it has not been easy to convince people to go back to the traditional business model — especially since the data is in their favor. “The world is a very different place,” Adams observed.
But not all companies have found themselves limited by a post-pandemic talent shortage. Those willing to move with the times have learned that remote work arrangements bring a lot of benefits.
A study commissioned by Microsoft, Boston Consulting Group, and KRC Research found that 82 percent of executives reported that productivity levels either remained the same or increased after shifting to remote work.
One of the reasons behind this is the simple fact that employees are generally happier when working remotely. “Workers have more time in their day, and there’s also more willingness to go the extra mile,” Adams said.
That’s why so many companies are treating this as the “new normal.” G-P’s latest Global Employee Survey found that 63 percent of employers were looking to make remote work a permanent feature, while G-P’s 2022 CFO Survey showed that 95 percent of CFOs in the EMEA region agree that having remote work policies helps attract and retain top talent.
“Employers are now happier to allow some sort of remote work,” Adams pointed out.
Where can I find this talent, then?
As Adams explained, limiting your search to a local talent pool is no longer enough. Companies tied to their cities not only become less attractive to top talent but also may lose ground to their competition when it comes to exploring new markets.
On the other hand, evolving into a global organization brings advantages such as the ability to build a multilingual team and the possibility of obtaining country-specific business knowledge.
And while there are regions struggling with a lack of talent, there are cities or even entire countries out there with a surplus of professionals available for work — and we’re not talking about traditional centers like New York, London, or Tokyo; it’s important to also take a look at emerging hiring hubs.
“Not many people know this, but Germany is a great hub for tech talent,” revealed Adams. In Africa, he said, companies should pay attention to Nigeria, one of the continent’s most vibrant tech centers. And for those looking to hire in Latin America, Mexico — home to some top technical universities globally — is the place to go.
Adopting some variant of remote work — be it with fully remote, hybrid, or flexible arrangements — can bring positive effects to a business, while also ensuring your company is on the right side of the future of work.
“We are looking to democratize opportunity for everyone around the world,” Adams concluded.
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