Why global mobility should be top of your agenda
Vos meilleurs professionnels des STIM sont en train de quitter votre société. Pas l’année prochaine. Pas lorsque le marché évoluera. Mais dès maintenant. Jelte Hacquebord, Chief Commercial Officer chez SThree, explique pourquoi.
(This blog continues in English)
Among STEM professionals planning to move abroad, 57% have already accepted a role in another country, and one in ten changed jobs or relocated internationally in the past 12 months alone – with this rising to one in six across Europe. Importantly, these aren’t just intentions, either. They’re reality – with contracts signed, notice periods served, and critical expertise walking out the door.
Our latest STEM Workforce Report, commissioned by SThree and conducted by YouGov across six major economies, confirms the scale of what’s happening. For a third of STEM professionals moving abroad isn’t hypothetical – it’s a real opportunity. Specialist skills are traded globally now, and your competitors are already bidding. Organisations that fail to adapt will find themselves outpaced by those that do.
The commercial cost when specialists leave
When a specialist engineer or life sciences expert leaves for an opportunity overseas, the fallout reaches far beyond an empty chair. Two in three STEM professionals say departures are already affecting essential projects – rising to four in five in certain countries. With one in six reporting severe impacts, including project cancellations, these are not minor inconveniences.
The financial hit is just as stark. Four in five STEM professionals say technical skills gaps are directly affecting revenue. In Germany, a quarter report severe impacts on revenue – and 87% say skills gaps directly affect their bottom line. Meanwhile, four in five say skills shortages have constrained their organisation’s ability to innovate – the very capability that drives long-term competitive advantage.
I often tell clients:
The exodus of STEM experts has moved from an HR metric to a board-level concern. When your specialists leave, they take institutional knowledge, client relationships and innovation capacity with them. When your competitors hire your people, they’re effectively acquiring your future.
In Germany, 39% of STEM leaders have seen their experts depart for other countries in the past year. The destinations are familiar:
- the US for higher salaries and abundant research opportunities
- Switzerland for its strength in pharmaceuticals
- Canada for quality of life and welcoming immigration policies
Each departure creates a ripple effect, including heavier workloads for those who remain, stretched project timelines and the gradual erosion of the expertise that sets you apart.
What’s really driving the move?
It’s easy to assume that salary is the main relocation driver, but it isn’t. When we asked STEM professionals what would persuade them to move to another country, quality of life and work-life balance consistently outranked financial incentives. In the UK, 44% would relocate for a better quality of life, making it the single most influential factor.
This matters because it changes the retention equation entirely. Organisations competing purely on compensation will lose to those offering meaningful work, genuine flexibility and compelling career environments. Many movers aren’t necessarily chasing money – they’re looking for what they’re not getting from their current employer.
Organisations competing purely on compensation will lose to those offering meaningful work, genuine flexibility and compelling career environments.
There’s also a generational dimension. In the Netherlands, 55% of STEM professionals aged 20–34 are considering or planning a move abroad, compared with 36% of those over 50. In Japan, younger professionals are four times more likely to contemplate relocation than their older colleagues. The generation driving much of today’s innovation is also the most internationally mobile – a structural threat for economies already dealing with demographic pressures.
A global exchange, not a one-way drain
Despite these drivers, one misconception endures: that the cross-border movement of STEM professionals is something to stop altogether. In reality, it’s a circular exchange of expertise that rewards organisations prepared to engage globally.
UK professionals are exploring opportunities in Europe, Australia and the US, while American professionals are considering Europe, the UK and Canada. Rather than fighting the tide, forward-thinking organisations are learning to work with it, designing workforce strategies that attract ambitious movers while retaining experienced specialists who value stability.
To compete globally, you have to think beyond borders. It means building international teams, powered by agility and technology. The organisations winning today focus less on locking people in place and more on creating environments so compelling that the world’s best minds choose to join.
Japan offers a useful counterpoint. Only 7% of Japanese STEM professionals are open to leaving – the strongest retention rate in our study. Understanding the roots of that loyalty, and which elements can be replicated elsewhere, should be a priority for any organisation serious about workforce strategy.
To compete globally, you have to think beyond borders. It means building international teams, powered by agility and technology.
The stakes are high, and the window for action is closing
Employers across STEM are feeling the pressure acutely. Throughout Europe, four in five STEM professionals say talent loss is already impacting critical projects. In fields where delays can derail product launches, research timelines or client delivery, the consequences extend well beyond individual performance reviews.
This pattern holds across every sector. Organisations treating mobility as someone else’s problem are discovering it has become their own. Nearly half have struggled to replace departed colleagues in the past year. Those who remain face heavier workloads, rising stress and the growing risk of burnout – conditions that make further departures more likely.
So, the question facing STEM leaders isn’t whether to adapt, but how fast. Build mobility into your workforce strategy rather than treating it as an exception. Shape your value proposition around what professionals actually want – purpose, flexibility and growth – not assumptions. And think globally about where skills are and how to access them, rather than defaulting to local hiring patterns that no longer reflect reality.
The exodus of STEM specialists isn’t coming. It’s here. And for organisations willing to act decisively, it’s not only a risk to manage but an opportunity to seize – tapping into global expertise that slower, more rigid competitors can’t reach.
The choice is yours. But the window for making it is narrower than you think.
About the research
SThree partnered with YouGov to survey 5,391 STEM professionals across the UK, US, Germany, the Netherlands, UAE and Japan between July and August 2025. The research covers professionals working in IT/technology, engineering and life sciences across organisations of all sizes.
For more information about SThree, click here.
Bron: SThree
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