Today’s generation is very confident of operating in a global environment :-
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The gap year is a Western concept. College and even school students drop out of academics for a year to work in or tour other countries. The objective is to acquire experience of the way things are elsewhere. It comes in very handy in a globalised world.

Early this year, the recession took a toll of the gap tribe. Global Xperience (GX), a firm that places travellers on volunteer and adventure projects, went under. Some 160 teenagers around the world got emails saying they would henceforth be on their own. After the recession, the US has been leading in protectionist measures. Was the demise of GX an indication that we were going back to the age of silos?

Recent studies have shown that non-resident Indians are returning to their home country in a big way. There is a reverse brain drain or brain gain as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh prefers to call it. Alok Aggarwal, founder and chairman of Evalueserve, has studied trends and says that IITians are no longer as enamoured of the US. There is no demand for H1B visas, the magic chit that took techies to the US. There is no demand for techies either with IT spends being postponed.

Another exodus has occurred from Dubai and the Gulf where thousands of Indians have lost their jobs and have scurried back. Elsewhere, reverse migration is a big thing as locals prepare to do jobs they would not sully their hands with a few years ago.

Does that mean the end of global experience as a determining factor in job qualifications? “It’s a passing phase,” says Mumbai-based HR consultant D. Singh. He points to a recent survey by Kelly Services, which provides staffing services and employment opportunities globally. The key findings are:

81 per cent of Gen Y (18-29) believes it is important to their career prospects that they become more globally oriented, followed by 78 per cent of Gen X (30-47) and 71 per cent of Baby Boomers (aged 48-65)

69 per cent of Gen X has recently worked closely with colleagues from a different country or culture, followed by Gen Y (67 per cent) and Baby Boomers (66 per cent)

84 per cent of Gen X feels that they possess the skills to work in a more globally-oriented workplace, followed by Gen Y (82 per cent) and Baby Boomers (81 per cent)

In deciding where to work, exposure to a global environment is considered “extremely important” by 32 per cent of Gen Y, 30 per cent of Gen X and 26 per cent of Baby Boomers

Only 35 per cent of Gen Y receives formal cross-cultural or language training from their employers, followed by Gen X (33 per cent) and Baby Boomers (27 per cent).

The findings are part of the Kelly Global Workforce Index, which obtained the views of approximately 90,000 people in 33 countries across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

“We are seeing a generation emerge that is very confident operating in a global environment,” says Kelly Services executive vice-president and chief operating officer George Corona. This will lead to many more transferable skills and a business dynamic where human capital can be deployed seamlessly to almost any location on short notice. Given the significant role this will play in transacting future business and attracting new talent, we expect to see many more firms devoting resources to equip staff with the language, culture and flexibility they need to be successful in a truly global context.

“Forget the people from GX who fell through the gap,” says Singh. “In later years they will consider it a learning experience and gain mileage. The T (Twitter)-generation has the world at its feet.”

AN INTERNATIONAL MINDSET :-

Global managers expressed they are:

• Open to global and local developments

• Open to other ways of organising the company (as a result of global and local developments)

• Open to people with other cultural backgrounds

• Aware they work with people living in diverse time zones

• Optimistic about their job and career

• Interested in working and living abroad.

Source: Wim den Dekker, senior HR consultant, Rabobank International