Report suggests 1 in 4 UK businesses hire overseas to beat talent shortage.
Overseas hiring figures for the UK are still behind global numbers but increased diversity, interest in markets and tech talent are driving businesses to look beyond London.
According to new research, a quarter of UK businesses have moved towards hiring global technology talent to tackle domestic skills shortages. In total, 27% of UK companies have begun hiring candidates from overseas or are in the process of doing so, while over 60% are still primarily focused on nationwide recruitment drives. This compares to a figure of 36% of global decision-makers, suggesting that while there is a shortage of skilled workers in the UK, businesses are continuing to look internally for new hires.
Van Der Voort explains that the study shows that in order for businesses to fulfil their tech talent requirements, they must go a step further and look beyond their own market. Technology talent hasn’t disappeared, according to Van Der Voort, it’s just spread across the world and businesses must tackle and overcome these challenges.
The data indicates that while UK companies are looking overseas, the majority (70%) of businesses prefer existing major tech hubs like New York, Paris and Berlin over new, emerging regions such as Budapest or Mexico City. These figures suggest an imbalance between hiring decisions and potential talent pools in emerging markets.
In the ‘Emerging IT Talent Hubs in 2022’ report by Gartner, current and new tech hubs were given a supply-demand ratio, determined by talent supply divided by talent demand. The higher the figure, the more potential talent the hub contained.
London and New York both recorded a figure of 2, while the emerging tech hub of Mexico City recorded an 8. Despite the high figure, only 7% of respondents in the study by Remote suggested that they would consider Mexico City to have considerable talent, compared to 20% indicating that they still believe there to be such talent in London and are continuing to look for people in the city.
HR solutions business, Remote announced the findings from its 2022 Tech Talent Report, which highlighted that skills shortage is having an impact on the hiring decisions of industry leaders. Looking beyond the benefits of flexible working, hiring managers are also considering the ethical implications of working remotely from new and emerging technology hubs. A total of 68% of respondents that were considering hiring from a global pool claimed it was vital to enable people to progress in their sector without having to relocate or move country. Job Van Der Voort, CEO and Co-Founder of Remote explains that when he considers the opportunities to hire the best talent from around the world, the challenges businesses face and barriers to hiring the best talent seem relatively minor.
Van Der Voort explains that the study shows that in order for businesses to fulfil their tech talent requirements, they must go a step further and look beyond their own market. Technology talent hasn’t disappeared, according to Van Der Voort, it’s just spread across the world and businesses must tackle and overcome these challenges.
Businesses looking to increase international talent pools via remote hires will face the challenges of managing a distributed team. A total of 47% of respondents suggested that language barriers were one concern within the hiring decision and 46% stated that the difficulty of working across various time zones was challenging.
In response to these concerns, Remote suggested implementing flexible working patterns enabling individuals to adapt their schedules to suit both productivity and convenience and allowing non-native speakers to digest and translate information.
Adopting this style means businesses would benefit from removing the need for instant responses. The report was delivered by Remote via an online survey earlier this year, covering nearly 1,500 decision-makers currently hiring for remote positions in the technology industry.
