Better careers await abroad

Fly Away

Three in four expat global workers work abroad in order to make a career jump which is seen as the main reason for taking a job overseas, new research reveals.

While 84 percent take an overseas job to improve their career, 83 percent also say it is for the diversity of experiences that they will encounter and 79 percent say it is to experience different cultures.

An increasing numbers of British workers are being posted globally on temporary assignments while maintaining a UK base, the fourth annual NatWest International Personal Banking (IPB) Quality of Life Index also shows.

Around three quarters of a million British workers currently travel overseas to work abroad each year. The ratio of temporary to permanent workers is currently five to one however, it looks set to rise to ten to one by 2020.

The increased use of temporary global workers means that the traditional definition of expatriation is blurring as Britain engages in a global market of brain exchange, says the report.
Countries are progressively sharing their talent rather than keeping hold of it, a phenomenon fuelled by global expat commuters.

Dave Isley, head of NatWest International Personal Banking, said: “The growth of the global worker has brought with it an opportunity to share knowledge and experience around the world. The great brain exchange is a fantastic concept of other economies temporarily sharing the strengths of British workers. Due to advances in travel and telecommunications, it is now much easier for international operations to run via daily phone calls, e-mail, and video conferencing. It has opened the door to sending young, talented, professionals abroad, while being supervised and coached by their managers in the UK.”