Economic stability is now a key driver for expats to move to a new location.
This is according to HR consultant and M&A adviser Katherine Watkins, who rounded off Health & Protection’s Global Mobility and Health Summit at Easthampstead Park Hotel yesterday.
Watkins (pictured) maintained that the picture has changed over the past couple of years with tax breaks not necessarily proving the most attractive benefit for employed expats.
“The driver for employees looking to move abroad is not necessarily around the tax side of it, but it’s more around the economic stability that they can have as a family,” Watkins explained.
“I grew up in Singapore and back in those days they didn’t have the expat culture that they have now – 10, 15, 20 years ago, that was a place everyone wanted to go.
“A lot of people still want to go to Dubai because it’s a tax haven and the situation is pretty good, but it is shifting.
“It’s now where can I have that job stability? Where can I have that economic stability for me and my family and which countries are going to enable me to do it?”
Popularity of Poland
This has meant previously less attractive destinations are growing in popularity.
“So we’re actually seeing a bit more movement into some of the Eastern European areas. Poland has suddenly jumped up a lot,” Watkins revealed.
“People are wanting to look at Poland, to go there. They’re claiming a better standard of living. The economic side of it is better as well.
“Easy commutes into other regions and other parts of the globe as well which I was quite surprised at because it’s not the most sexy area you would think of going and not the best weather, but that’s more of a push for people.
“And this is for every sized firm, not just large firms but some of these small and medium sized firms as well.”
Gaining AI skills
The ability to gain important workplace skills of the future are also a factor, Watkins added.
“People are looking at some of the great opportunities within their own careers,” she continued.
“If they can go somewhere where there’s a greater investment into the tech side as well, people are wanting to go there.
“I think that’s related to the AI side. People are having to train up on that tech side.
“I worked with a company about six months ago – Savio group which is an AI driven customer experience business and we were starting to see a lot more people wanting to be trained up on that and they are going to the East of the world to get that experience as well.”