When I google “Brain Drain”, the first recommendation I get is “Brain Drain Asia” How appropriate! It’s a very prominent challenge that both local and expat leaders have to face in frontier markets – keeping key talent not only in the organization but in the country itself. Though there are some countries such as India and China which are beginning to feel the reverse – the return of talent into the country, the exit of the young generation still weighs heavily on the talent scale.
The Brain Drain Effect across Frontier Markets
Where the Asian brain drain began, it probably can’t be identified. But most, if not all, of the major economies such as India, China, Malaysia etc. have experienced it. The reasons aren’t unknown – from a change in passport to better financial opportunities, there are many of them. However, the effects caused by the brain drain causes real ground level problems for the successful operations of any country. A few of these are:
- Malaysia’s brain drain is causing issues in their economy
- Pakistan’s brain drain is causing a shortage of doctors
- Africa is going through a loss of trade and industrial development expertise
Just these 3 examples are important enough to accept that we must welcome the BRAIN GAIN concept with open arms and encourage it through any and all means possible.
Encouraging the Brain Gain
To encourage employees to return back to their native countries or stay there in the first place, one has to understand the reasons why they left. Yes, I listed the broader ones above – but the question is, how can you tackle these to make people forget about the benefits of living in the developed world and stick around to make the most of frontier markets?
According to Policy Horizons Canada, better economic prospects in Asia coupled with unbalanced remuneration of immigrants in Canada, potential migrants are beginning to rethink their move. For leaders in frontier markets, it doesn’t get better than this. They revealed this very interesting graph of the Wage Gap of migrants to the US and Canada from China, India and Pakistan. Though the overall picture reveals a slightly better situation for Chinese and Indian immigrants as compared to native born American’s (but not Canadian’s) the reality for Pakistani’s is notably bleaker.
What this Means for You: Highlighting and compensating for the paygap in foreign countries may help employees make the decision to stay.
Brain Gain Factors not in Your Control
There are understandably a number of factors which are beyond the control of any individual person or organization for that matter. A few of these being:
- Improving standard of living
- Providing modern educational facilities
- Political and infrastructure stability
But what you can do – and much of it by simply paying your employees well could change their course of action:
- Create policies which make employees feel like they’re cared for – such as relocation costs, annual house maintenance allowances, and private club memberships. These are not as crazy as they sound – they create a sense of security where it may not exist otherwise.
- Provide the opportunity for your employees to study abroad, participate in distant learning programs, encourage libraries in the workplace and even consider paying a certain amount for their children’s educations or setting up college funds.
- The last one – political and infrastructure stability is a tough one. When your employees may be fearing lack of basic security that developed countries take for granted, this one is truly out of your hands. However, knowing how to handle difficult situation and opening the doors for communication can make things easier for your team. Encourage people to speak about how they feel. Just make sure no one takes you for granted.
Understanding that the opportunities provided by a developed country can help you create an environment which keeps your employees happy. Taking care of your key talent is how you retain them. Anyone who’s tried to run an organization in a frontier market knows how easy it is to lose good talent and how difficult it can be to find more. What steps have you taken to minimize the effect of the brain drain your country?