LACK OF FLEXIBILITY WILL EXACERBATE THE BRAIN DRAIN
By Tsholofelo Nketane
Companies clinging to inflexible remote working policies risk losing their top talent, and impeding their own competitiveness in attracting and retaining skilled professionals, given both emigration and semigration trends in the country.
South Africa’s most recent brain drain began in early 2020 as we moved into the COVID-19 pandemic. We observed that many of the senior and C-suite executives we engaged were considering emigration or ‘semigration’. Many were a year or two away from retirement and it felt like a good time to exit, so they fast-tracked their retirement.
Fast forward to 2023 and a lot of executives who owned holiday homes in the coastal regions have turned their temporary lockdown situations into permanent ones. And those that don’t have that option, are choosing to look further afield.
Already, in 2020, the UN was reporting that close to a million South Africans had been lost to UK, Australia, the US, New Zealand and Canada. We’ve also seen a number of people moving to the UAE. What’s of greatest concern, however, is the number of young people who are looking to leave – a July 2022 survey by the Social Research Foundation said 53% of university graduates and 43% of those who earned more than R20,000 a month might leave South Africa, having lost faith in the country’s future.
When it comes to semigration, the biggest reason cited is work-life balance and an increased interest in social activities that either aren’t offered in large urban centres, or which are challenging to participate in due to lifestyle constraints or security concerns. There’s also a move away from gated communities to standalone properties in locations where security risks are lower.
The pandemic shifted people’s priorities – and they have moved geographically to accommodate them. People have tasted freedom, and there’s no backtracking now.
To mitigate this risk, companies must act with urgency, and review their flexibility when it comes to remote working policies. It’s a much larger part of their employee value proposition than most realise, and we see top talent opting for the jobs that offer flexibility first.
In today’s context, when companies aren’t flexible, they can neither attract nor retain workers. And with the exodus of young people to other countries, the pipeline is headed for foreign shores too.
These trends are especially relevant in the tech sector, which is already facing a dire skills shortage, since more and more local developers and data scientists are choosing to work for foreign countries, while enjoying the lifestyle in South Africa.
So what are the solutions?
1. Flexible work practice – in its place if the industry allows, of course. But give people the freedom to choose how they want to work.
2. Leadership programme – so that leaders let go of outdated notions of how to lead their teams, and are able to lead successfully in the new world of work.
3. Tech enablement – so that teams and leaders are able to be productive and communicate and share ideas with ease.
4. Managers must be given the tools to manage – which includes the right tech, and the right people skills.
5. Business solutions – companies need to evaluate their technology, update their strategic planning and leverage their internal data to design an operating model that works for their industry, the organisation and their people.
6. Sustainability from an employee perspective – the people proposition must be designed with people in mind, as obvious as that might sound. Executives view work differently now; organisations must move with the times if they want to retain their best people.
It is time for companies to analyse the expectations of their workforce versus meeting the demands of the business, and find a middle way that embraces flexibility. Some have managed to achieve this – which means it is achievable. The risk of not allowing hybrid working is that foreign organisations may well employ South Africa’s best talent, and pay them in foreign currency – and for most, that will be an offer they simply can’t refuse.