French Workers Open to Moving Abroad While Maintaining Current Jobs, According to Survey

A third of French workers (33%) would be ready to move abroad while continuing to work for their current employer.

Borders no longer seem to be an obstacle to employment, particularly for “digital nomads” who can work remotely, regardless of location. This is what the ADP Research Institute survey indicatese, « People at Work 2023 : l’study Workforce View”, conducted with more than 32,000 workers in 17 countries, including nearly 2,000 in France. A third of French employees (33% compared to 48% globally) would be ready to move abroad while continuing to work for their current employer. More than one employee in 10 (12%) says they have already taken the plunge (compared to 7% globally).

45% of men expressed the possibility of moving abroad while continuing to work for their company; among them, 17% have already done so. On the other hand, only 17% of women support this possibility, including 5% who have already taken the plunge. Age also appears to be a central factor in moving plans. While 56% of employees aged 18 to 24 would be ready to move while keeping their job, only 14% of those aged over 55 are considering it or have already done so. Half of young people aged 18-34 (50%) are considering moving abroad for better professional opportunities, a figure which drops to 31% of workers aged over 45.

Teleworking from abroad: a work standard in the future?

Among those considering moving abroad while maintaining their current job, 25% assume they have this option thanks to their company’s flexibility policy. Flexibility which allows them to work from any location within France (31%), but also from abroad (26%). Others assume such a possibility is possible because their job does not require them to be in a specific location (27%) or because they have noticed that some of their colleagues have done so (26%) . Additionally, according to nearly one in five employees (19%), the ability to work remotely from anywhere in the world should become the norm within their industry within the next 5 years. . Of workers working in finance, IT and telecommunications, 34% and 30% respectively make this prediction.

Employees lacking information regarding the flexibility policy

While 45% of employees are satisfied with being able to benefit from flexible working hours, 24% have no information from their company on this subject. This observation is particularly expressed among workers in education and health (34%), industry (31%), those aged over 45 (29%), as well as women (28% compared to 20% of men). In addition, while 44% of French people say they are satisfied with the geographic flexibility offered by their employer, 30% have no information on the deployment of such a policy within their organization. An opinion which is particularly expressed among women (40% compared to 23% of men) and among 45-54 year olds (36%).

When employees do not have the necessary equipment to telework

Deploying a flexibility policy finally involves providing employees with the right tools so that they can work remotely in good conditions. However, almost a third (32%) of French employees say that their employer does not provide them with the equipment necessary to telework. This figure is the highest among the 8 European countries studied in the survey. In France, this observation is strongly expressed by women (41% compared to 25% of men).