Findings reflect a 'generational shift' in recruitment attitude
Younger managers across Australia are more open to offshoring than older leaders, indicating a "generational shift" around recruitment attitudes.
More than half or 55% of Millennial managers understand that hiring overseas workers will be essential to addressing their organisation's skills gaps, according to a survey by Cloudstaff with 523 respondents.
For Gen Z, who are the next generation of leaders, 63% also recognise that offshoring roles will be important for businesses.
These figures are much higher than the 19% of Baby Boomers who said hiring overseas still will help address skill shortages, according to the report.
"The workforce has changed considerably since Baby Boomers started out in their careers. Australia already relies heavily on overseas workers in the form of migration," said Chris McDonald, VP of Growth at Cloudstaff. "It's therefore not surprising that younger leaders are more open to working across borders."
The growing preference of younger managers towards offshoring could also be linked to their rejection of traditional hiring practices.
According to the report, Millennial managers believe they take too much time working the recruitment process, such as writing job descriptions, placing ads, conducting interviews, and organising onboarding.
With the extensive nature of the recruitment process, six in 10 Millennial managers said they gave up on hiring and began taking on extra work themselves. This puts them at the highest risk of burnout across all age groups, according to the report.
These findings come as 67% of Australian managers also revealed that it has been challenging to hire people with the right skills for their vacancies over the last two years.
Most troubled in recruitment are Baby Boomers, after 75% of them admitted that it has difficult to recruit the right staff over the past two years.
"The reality is that available Australian talent pools have all but run dry: there simply aren't enough working-age people in the country to fill open roles and drive economic growth," McDonald said.
With the lack of skills within Australia, McDonald said going offshore would help workers and the economy to thrive and grow.
The report also revealed that despite Australia's growing interest in offshoring, it remains behind the United States and the United Kingdom.
According to the report, 63% of UK Millennial managers and 73% of US Millennial managers are already on board with offshoring to fill vacancies.
"While this research indicates a generational shift, it also highlights a particular mindset: a global view of the world that values the contribution an individual can make, whether they sit in Manila or Melbourne," McDonald said.
He added that "smart companies" would hire where the talent lives, especially now after COVID became a training programme for organisations on how to manage remote work.
"The days of people needing to live close to their workplace are over," McDonald said.
