Reversing New Zealand’s brain drain

Reversing New Zealand’s brain drain

Massey University PhD graduate David Ellis hopes his thesis will help expat New Zealanders make the decision to return, as well as assist businesses to attract the talent they need.

Dr Ellis spent four years researching the New Zealand repatriation experience, interviewing Kiwis before and after their return to New Zealand. He found the perception that most returning expats have negative experiences was largely untrue.

“There is so much negativity around returning home because people who don’t do well tend to be quite vocal in newspaper articles and on sites like LinkedIn and it can really snowball,” he says.

Dr Ellis says the widely accepted narrative is that returning expats experience overwhelming shock and disappointment when they discover New Zealand is not exactly the same as when they left.

“I’m sure you will have heard these stories yourself – how returning Kiwis can’t connect with their old social networks because people have moved on, or how they are shocked by house prices or grocery costs.”

What Dr Ellis actually found was that technology has really closed the information gap that people used to experience when they lived overseas for long periods of time.

“The rise and rise of Facebook, LinkedIn, Skype and even cheap phone calls, means it’s now very easy to keep in touch with home in both a personal sense and a professional sense,” he says. “People talked a lot about reading the New Zealand Herald on their tablets on the way to work so they knew what was happening with property prices, the cost of living and the employment market.

“If there are surprises, they happen relatively early in the research process and are incorporated into the final decision to return or stay.”

Dr Ellis found that employment outcomes generally exceeded expectations as well, although some older returners over the age of 50 did experience difficulty in finding work.

“People expected to earn a lot less because of all the stories that they had heard. But most ended up earning more than they expected, and many actually earned more than they had overseas,” he says.

He is at pains not to gloss over the reduced career opportunities in a small country like New Zealand, but says that there are plenty of positive stories that just don’t get the same traction as the unhappy ones.

“Most returners are balancing pay as part of a complex equation that also includes lifestyle, family and life stage, including having kids.

“Many come back when they are at the stage of career maintenance. Their career is important to them and they still want to contribute in positive ways to New Zealand businesses, but progressing their career is not their sole focus. Against this background, the vast majority of people I spoke to found work relatively quickly and they didn’t have to step down to achieve that.”

As a Kiwi expat himself, Dr Ellis says the process of researching the repatriation process has reduced his own fears about returning to New Zealand one day.

“The main outcome of my research is the message is that it’s not necessarily as hard as you think it will be, mainly because you can return with your eyes wide open, knowing exactly what to expect. We need to get the message out there that, while it’s not always easy, most people actually have positive outcomes when they return.”

Key research findings

To increases their chances of a positive outcome when returning to New Zealand, expats should:

• Stay connected with their personal and professional networks while overseas.
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• Do as much research as possible so they can make an informed decision to stay or return.
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• Seek out recruitment agencies and companies that understand the value of overseas experience.
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• Pick their time to return well to ensure factors like the state of the economy and the employment market are favourable.
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Recruiters wanting to attract Kiwis back to jobs in New Zealand should:

• Be seen to value international experience through the recruitment agencies they use and the language on their website.
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• Use recruiters and hiring managers with overseas experience themselves when dealing with expats.
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• Maintain excellent communication and manage expectations throughout the recruitment process, especially if the candidate is still based overseas.
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• Utilise returners’ experience not only within their specific role, but across the entire organisation, to increase satisfaction levels and retention and leverage the fresh perspective they can offer.
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ENDS

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