International Workforce Preferences & Global Mobility

As a forerunner for Intercultural Knowledge Management, ICUnet has surveyed 297 international high potentials to get an idea of international work preference and its association with workforces. Being a Global Mobility Service provider, ICUnet has studied the results of this topic in order to better grasp the concept and relativity in today’s ever expanding industries. Global Mobility can be defined simply as the movement of your workforce on a global scale, learning to optimize the need for data, tools and advice to do so.
Personal Preferences: Germany first choice for working and living
With 78 different nationalities surveyed, being rather equally split between gender and age, preferences on work and living (conditions) were favourable towards the same demographics. The question of preferred place to live indicated that the majority, about 75%, of participants desired to live within the European Union. These answers were based on the standard of living and work opportunities alike, with Germany being the highest ranking country to live in. Subsequently, when partakers were asked where they would prefer to work, again the majority responded to do so within the European Union primarily due to salary opportunities and work/life balance. Interestingly enough, Germany ranked first again in choice of country to work in, with the UK being a close second.

There is however, one underlying issue: 66% of surveyors claim to have tried acquiring a job within the EU having a success rate of only 38%, majority being unsuccessful. When digging deeper ICUnet came to find that the main reasoning behind this was due to visa regulations and language barriers, issues which can be resolved. Participants seem to have made these decisions based on their idea of a “perfect job”, consisting primarily of self-fulfilment, international focus, and high payment. The importance of Global Mobility seems ever so present, trying to help fuse the individuality and diversity of cultures alike. For global success it is important that organizations take interest in improving these lacking networks and markets.

Global Mobility: Intercultural collaboration is key
The survey indicated how important Global Mobility is in today’s workforce. 88% claim that intercultural network collaboration is relevant in their current job, going hand in hand with 85% claiming virtual collaboration being important as well. Technology today, associated with virtual collaboration, helps to bridge the gap between organizations however does not defend intercultural misunderstandings. It came to show that almost 98% of participants would prefer to travel internationally. This was further broken down into multiple parts (in order from highest to lowest percentage) of monthly, long term, short term, and seldom international travel. So majority of people prefer to travel internationally, most needing assistance and further education on doing so effectively.

Conclusion – cultural interactions on a daily business ask for in-depth cultural preparation
The concepts brought to light in this study prove to be key factors for global success. Geographical and political borders are forever changing, with cultural differences continuously just as valid and ongoing. This survey indicates a strong relevance and interest in competency with intercultural integration success, with a need to incorporate and educate the concept of Global Mobility to do so effectively. Technology has simplified this platform, however, the intercultural bond needs to be improved. Your average workforce has about 7-8 different cultural interactions per day, which is where this study proves ever so important. ICUnet thrives to bridge this gap, educating on the importance of these factors which help assist organizations on global success and expansion.
The survey can be found under the following link: Survey
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