The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed how people think about their mobility preferences and what matters to them at work.  The Decoding Global Talent 2021 survey allows us to investigate these changes from various angles. The results are based on 208,000 respondents’ opinions around the world, including in Luxembourg, from a collaboration of BCG and The Network. 

Although interest in working abroad has waned, it remains stable in Luxembourg

Globally and for the past four years, the desire to move abroad for work has become less attractive for people. This decline can be explained by multiple factors: restrictions and uncertainty due to the COVID-19 crisis and travelling being perceived as no longer safe, the emergence of nationalistic policies and tighter immigration regulations across key economies (like Brexit and US policies, for example) and the expansion of virtual offices making moving abroad to find work no longer necessary. In this case, Luxembourg stands out: the proportion has even increased since 2014, with 81% of 2,020 respondents saying they are still inclined to look for work beyond the country’s borders. As a well-known international hub, workers of the Grand Duchy are pursuing their career ambitions.

A new kind of work mobility

With the emergence of remote working, people now have new alternatives. There is a shift, and it appears that working remotely for a foreign employer could be a valid alternative: 57% of global respondents are open to the idea of working remotely for a foreign employer, which is higher than the 50% who are interested in physical mobility. Luxembourgish people are an exception here, since their choice is the exact opposite: 53% of them would prefer to work for a remote employer, which is still inferior to the desire for physical mobility.

A closer look at the remote work trend shows that even within similar job categories, there are major differences by country of residence: it has most firmly taken root in Western Europe, especially in countries hit hard by COVID-19. The Netherlands and the UK lead the field among all of these countries in the percentage of people who work remotely, with Luxembourg and France ranking high.

People have higher expectations towards the ideal workplace.  

Overall, remote work awareness has created an expectation that will outlive the crisis. Even if the upside of remote work has been highlighted, fully remote work —in which employees never set foot in an office— isn’t a model that people are going for as they look toward the end of the pandemic. For instance, residents of Luxembourg are among the least likely to say they would be okay with never going to the office again. If given a choice, 85% of people working in Luxembourg would like to have some flexibility in where work gets done, but only 16% would go fully remote.

The desire to work remotely is not that different across job roles, and even people in social and physical jobs would like to have at least some work-from-home days. For example, 80% of people working in the health & medical industries express their will to work remotely four days a week, and people working in the field of law at least one day a week after the pandemic ends. However, in many of these seemingly less flexible industries, there is a big gap between the desire for remote work and the incidence thereof: this may be an indication of work model changes destined to transform even more industries.

Flexibility has always been desired in terms of location, while today 76% of respondents from Luxembourg are seeking some or full flexibility in determining their working hours. Regarding the marketing and communication field, more than 60% of people would prefer a flexible agenda.

People are questioning the impact of work on their lives

The way people collaborate, the tools they use, the effectiveness of their work, and their well-being have also been affected. For the biggest part, people have experienced a positive impact on their use of digital tools, especially those in knowledge-based jobs. However, most respondents experienced a negative change in their well-being, especially those in physical or social jobs, where they had to continue working in person despite the higher risk linked to the virus.

As a result, it is not surprising that people are also re-thinking the core values they desire in a job. Roughly seven out of ten respondents, both in Luxembourg and globally, said diversity and climate had become more important issues in the last year. The younger the cohort, the higher the likelihood of the issue gaining in importance. In addition, half of all respondents said they would not accept a job with an employer whose policies in these areas did not match their personal beliefs.

Discover the full BCG/The Network Global Talent Survey.
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