The U.S. and Germany are the locations employees are most willing to relocate to
Employees’ enthusiasm about moving to another country for work has waned in the past few years, according to a new report involving workers and recruiters in 197 countries.
Today, 57 percent of employees say they’d move to another country for work—an almost 7 percentage point decrease compared to the amount willing to relocate in 2014.
The Boston Consulting Group and The Network, who sponsored the survey the report is based on, suggest the current debate over immigration and trade in many countries may be a factor.
Germany, which, according to the report’s authors, bears a relative openness in regard to immigration, which may have cast it in a more favorable light, rose to the No. 2 work destination spot this year. The U.S. was ranked No. 1.
In addition to how willing to relocate employees are, the survey revealed information about how employees view work-life balance and company culture.
Workers’ emphasis on having good relationships with colleagues and superiors and work-life balance — compared to financial compensation, which was ranked eighth globally among all job satisfaction elements — has remained constant since the authors’ 2014 survey.
They note, however, job satisfaction variations exist by country and region. Job security, for example, often isn’t a concern in Western Europe, where worker protections are fairly common; yet it’s one of the top job satisfaction elements in Indonesia and Malaysia.