TRENDS 2020 The Costly Unknown When it comes to business, uncertainty itself can be extremely interest in remote and flexible work arrangements, as hiring JOB & HIRING harmful. It makes planning and investment more difficult. It managers struggle to relocate in-demand talent to UK office discourages companies from taking risks and making long-term locations. Employers’ Brexit-related immigration challenges will plans. And it diverts executives’ time and energy toward bracing further accelerate the already growing trend toward remote for worst-case contingencies rather than working toward their core work, which has been fueled in recent years by improved instant business goals. messaging and video conferencing tech in the workplace. GLASSDOOR'S There’s growing evidence that Brexit-related uncertainty is already Second, we expect UK-based employers to shift their focus to hurting UK employers. A recent working paper from the National cities outside the UK for tech-related hiring. Since major cities like Bureau of Economic Research in the U.S. found that Brexit Dublin and Paris — each only a 1-hour flight from London — will anticipation has reduced investment spending by British firms by remain in the EU, employers can still take advantage of more about 11 percent since the original June 2016 Brexit vote. It found flexible intra-EU immigration rules from there. Although splitting up the Brexit process has hurt UK workforce productivity by between company workforces geographically has many disadvantages, it still 2 and 5 percent, mostly due to companies diverting more time to may outweigh the high costs and uncertainty posed by immigration Brexit-related planning. According to the study, Brexit has also led policies in a post-Brexit world. That’s especially true for high to a large and long-lasting increase in business uncertainty in the demand tech roles, a need met today by hiring talent originating UK — something that may also spill over into deteriorating business outside the UK. outlooks for non-UK employers who hire and do business in the United Kingdom. Holistically, the UK economy is strong and most UK employers will emerge from Brexit largely unscathed. However, we expect The Path Ahead big changes in how UK-based employers cultivate new talent and In 2020 we expect to see two main responses to Brexit-related navigate post-Brexit immigration policies in today’s increasingly hiring challenges by UK employers. First, we anticipate a greater global high-skilled workforce. 30