The world of work is your oyster

Record numbers of Britons are leaving the country to work abroad. Many stay but others use the experience to further their career.

May 18, 2008

By: Mary Braid

It's been two-and-a-half years since Paul Webster left the London office of Michael Page International and moved to New York to be part of the recruitment firm’s expansion there.

For Webster, 36, the posting was the fulfilment of a long-held ambition. He was born and raised in St Albans, Hertfordshire, but his parents had worked in Kenya and a house filled with African mementos had spurred his yearning to work overseas.

“I grew up knowing I wanted to work overseas, and I love my job in New York,” he said. “At this stage I would say England is still home, but it is conceivable that I won’t return there to live.”

According to research from the Centre for Future Studies (CFS), Webster’s happiness at the prospect of making a new life in a foreign land is shared by record numbers of Brits. While putting together the NatWest International Personal Banking Quality of Life report, the CFS found that these days some 133,000 of us are leaving Britain each year to work abroad.

A further 60,000 leave just to live abroad, but the typical British expat is no longer a sun-seek-ing retired person but a 43-year-old professional, earning an average salary of £67,000. About half of those working abroad are employed by British companies while the other half have found foreign jobs themselves. More than 60% of expats say they can see no reason to return home.

So what’s driving the trend? Well, hard cash plays its part. The CFS points out that the average professional salary in Britain is £20,000 lower than the average abroad and that the cost of living overseas is also often lower. In short, expats often earn more and find that their money goes further.

In addition, the study found 90% of the 1,100 expats interviewed said they were “happier” abroad and 80% said they had a “greater sense of wellbeing”.

“Money is one of the factors but not the main one,” said Frank Shaw, CFS director. “Higher disposable income is one of a number of quality-of-life factors that influence people. Whether there was negativity about the experience tended to depend on the part of the world people were working in. Countries culturally similar to Britain – Canada and New Zealand – tend to hold people, but most people working in the United Arab Emirates, for example, said that they intended to come home, but then again that was also true of people working in Sweden.”

Until recently, Shaw was predicting that the numbers working overseas would continue to rise but, for some reason, the downturn has affected his forecast. “It is counter-intuitive – and don’t ask me to explain why – but when the home economy is less healthy, fewer people tend to go overseas to work,” he said.

Perhaps a drop in confidence and optimism makes people less daring or perhaps companies cut down on overseas postings when the going gets tough. Whatever way the trend goes in the next few years, there is no doubt that overseas experience is increasingly seen as a positive by employees and their companies.

Only last month, global head-hunter Heidrick & Struggles published research that showed international experience was becoming de rigueur for top executives. Its advice to those aiming for the top was to get at least one overseas posting – and preferably two. An increasingly globalised business environment demands internationally literate executives.

In dispatching employees like Webster to offices across the globe, Michael Page is recognising the benefit of overseas experience – a benefit also appreciated by its client companies. Michael Page’s boss, Steve Ingham, said that candidates with overseas experience were increasingly appealing to client companies and firms offering the possibility of overseas postings were more attractive to candidates.

Richard Gartside, human-resources director of the professional-services firm Ernst & Young, said that E&Y aimed to work with other international companies and to serve them to the same high standard across the globe. “This is partly why we want our people to have global experience,” he said. “And it is my guess as to why more people are being asked to work abroad.

“If we are a global organisation, it is important the leaders of our business understand the different environments in which the company operates. There needs to be experience of different economies and cultures.”

Gartside said overseas postings were also woven into succession planning. If E&Y was looking to place someone in a senior role in, say, China, it would consider candidates who might play an important role in shaping the company in the future.

Is the increase in the number of Brits working overseas damaging UK business, though? Shaw said: “The media tend to exaggerate the brain drain. About half of those working abroad are there at the instigation of their employer, and if their organisation is based here then they have not left the British economy.

“We have to take account of the people that are constantly moving to the UK to work. We are importing some highly skilled people. We also have to remember that people who have been working abroad bring back skills when they return home.”

However, Shaw said it was distressing to see the government encouraging people to train for jobs – as it did recently with physiotherapy – that then failed to materialise. “That’s a terrible waste of talent,” he said. “In general, the government needs to have a vision of how the world will be in 10 years and work towards making the UK competitive in terms of attracting and retaining people.”

While the numbers working abroad are at their highest level, life isn’t always a complete joy. Expat internet sites offer testimony from bored spouses forbidden to work by the host country, living in fear of crime in gated communities and people pining for the family and pub back home. And, of course, the older people get, the less seductive life overseas seems.

In the CFS survey, even expats with no intention of moving home admitted it was family and friends they missed most. Shaw recalled a friend who had worked in Canada for 20 years and decided suddenly one day– after decades of loving Canada– that it was time to go home.

“He just decided it was time to go back to the pub and all things British,” said Shaw.

“Home often still holds its allure. They say that even Aus-sies, possibly the most travelled nationality in the world, always go home eventually.”

Contact:

Max De Paola
Michael Page International
203.905.5253