Has Twitter’s talent strategy been impacted by Brexit?
With 47 nationalities in the London office, Twitter's Vice President (EMEA) explains how the uncertainty has caused anxiety about employees' tenure
For the past few years, Brexit has dominated media headlines - as well as business thinking.
A 2018 report from LinkedIn found that 96% of hiring strategies have been impacted by Brexit. Businesses cite workforce planning difficulties, skills shortages, talent droughts, and the retention of EU national workers as prominent issues.
Bruce Daisley, Vice President (EMEA) Twitter told HR Grapevine at AXA’s Growth Leaders Series: Leading The Future Workforce that he has witnessed the impact of Brexit on Twitter’s talent strategy first-hand. Having spent several years overseeing Twitter’s European arm – as well as the Middle East and Africa – he understands, acutely, how Brexit is causing uncertainty, not just for employers, but for employees too.
“In the London office we have got 47 different nationalities; we’re not huge but we have got 250 people. It’s just an illustration that talent, especially engineering talent, is international. The first impact [of Brexit] that we had was that workers were anxious about their own tenure and that meant that they were reluctant to plan for the future.”
In one specific example, Daisley explains that Twitter had French engineers considering a year or two working overseas in San Francisco, but Brexit uncertainties planted concerns over whether they would be able to return to London afterwards.
“People have said to us if ‘I go and do this job in the US for three years will I be allowed back?’ And the answer is ‘we don’t know’, but if it is in our gift, we would sponsor them to return here. All we can [tell them is] what we are going to try and do but sometimes I think for an employee that can feel dissatisfying. They want answers not intentions.
“We’re just trying wherever possible to take the uncertainty off the table,” he concluded.
