A recent article by Kathy Gurschiek in HR Magazine highlights the counties best equipped to support an employer interested in attracting, developing and retaining workers… employee retention. The source of the ranking is a study done by the IMD World Competitiveness Center. The study is titled IMD World Talent Report and the center is a part of the International Institute for Management in Switzerland.
The top countries are:
- Switzerland
- Denmark
- Belgium
- Sweden
- The Netherlands
- Finland
- Norway
- Austria
- Luxembourg
- Hong Kong
The U.S. was rated as 14th, citing inadequate public investment in education as the cause for the low ranking.
It would seem fair to assume these impressive ratings are making employee retention easier to achieve in some European countries. Conversely the challenge for independent and in-house recruiters involved in talent search may increase as a result of good employee retention practices. I am interested to know if global recruiters (those working cross-border and around the world) see greater barriers to movement from the European talent they hunt versus talent search that is done outside of these countries? While I have long heard anecdotal evidence that North Americans are more open to relocation, I have attributed that to the vastness of the geographic options available within a single country. I had not considered the potential poor employee retention efforts may play is such mobility. What experiences can you share?
