Digital skills become a question with Brexit
Born and raised in Poland, Alex Kmiecik is at a time of hesitance, especially regarding her current job as Digital Marketing Executive at Digital Ignite; a recruitment agency based in the United Kingdom (UK).
For the last 5 years Alex benefitted from her access to the UK labour market being a European Union (EU) citizen.
With Brexit coming along very soon, things might change for Alex. Digital marketing is one of many sectors that may not just lose its reputation as a competitive industry, but many creative employees from the EU depending on how visa restrictions are tackled.
The challenge is beyond just work permits, but also about having access to a team of fresh digital marketing experts to suit the pace of the sector.
Based on a study by the Advertising Association; a UK trade association representing all marketing related fields; employees coming to London from abroad in the past year were three times more than that in other cosmopolitan cities such as New York, Paris and Amsterdam, with a third of them from EU countries, which is crucial since the sector contributes approximately 120 billion pounds to UK’s gross domestic product.
The norm for many UK employers is to resort to international talent, precisely from the EU due to their advantage of having no visa restrictions.
However, Alex questions the sustainability of her position with Brexit, especially since it will cost UK employers about 2,000 pounds for sponsorship, also knowing that one in four contractors with a non-UK passport admitted that the threat of additional immigration restrictions is influencing their willingness to leave the country, according to a study by Sparta Global; UK-based digital consultancy firm.
“I definitely feel the pressure. If a company wants to hire someone who requires a visa sponsorship, it is really quite standardised that the job has to be advertised for months and they have to interview a certain amount of people who don’t need a visa,” she said.
Undoubtedly, Alex becomes easily replaceable by anyone who can fill the position without a visa, and would only remain suitable if a suitable successor hasn’t been found. However, with half of small to medium enterprises in the UK reporting facing digital skills shortages, it may be difficult to fill positions just through domestic employees, according to a report by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Despite that the flow of international talent to the UK seems positive for the digital sector, Agnes Nairn, PhD, Chair of Marketing for the Department of Management at University of Bristol, argues that a digital skills gap is still an issue.
“It is also the case that there will always be a digital skills gap as digital technology is developing at such a pace that no organisation large or small can actually keep up. This is not a static situation, so the real question is how can organisations, including small and medium enterprises, recruit a flexible workforce who can easily upskill as technology develops,” she said.
Last year, Advertising Association conducted a survey of LinkedIn members in the London area showing that one in every 18 employees are in the advertising and marketing sector, indicating that employability in advertising is at a high.
Another challenge? Digital technology is not as attractive a career to the UK population, especially since those skills are not embedded in educational settings.
According to Khan, education proves to be a massive influencer in creating a digitally skilled generation to support the UK’s position as a digital leader.
“Higher education has a responsibility, because they are allowing students to go into the real world so it is fair to stay up to date and cultivate the digital sector as much as possible in terms of students and education,” he elaborated.
Brexit does not have to be bad news though, if the severity of the immigration policy is dwindled. A way to bridge the digital skills gap is by creating a route for freelance international talent without needing to meet the minimum salary requirement, which currently stands at 30,000 pounds.
For example, Anna Reyes, Global Content Creator at Millward Brown; an advertising, media and brand equity research firm; has been an offshore employee to the UK from the Philippines for over a year now, which is a way to get around visa restrictions Brexit may pose, since offshore employees can work from abroad on a contractual basis.
However, Anna will also be affected on a smaller scale.
“The way it will affect me and my job is that a lot of digital marketing or digital advertisers have an attitude of ‘burying their heads in the sand’ with not a lot of marketing experts have implemented the Brexit marketing strategy and not a lot are planning to do so.”
When asked about the efficiency of freelancing in digital marketing, Faisal Khan, Digital Marketing Officer at the London School of Economics and Political Science said, “One thing I’ve noticed is that digital marketing do a bit more freelance. Whether that will change will Brexit? I think it might increase a bit more with potentially more freelancers, mainly due to the visa element.”
He added that the digital marketing sector has the advantage of being very remote over other branches such as human resources.
Other risks to digital marketing that will emerge with Brexit is the relocation of creative companies to different countries in order to gain access to talent, as well as access to the EU’s digital single market as a means to export UK services as well.
“It might actually be the reverse. If deals are done with other parts of the globe such as India or China — it may be that UK looks more widely for skills. Given that digital skills can be bought and sold at arm’s length by their very nature,” argued Nairn.
Her comments come into context knowing that the UK cannot negotiate its own trade deals with the market mentioned while still being part of the EU’s customs union.
To Nairn, the sector must work harder in order to avoid any financial repercussions that may come as a result of Brexit.
“In the advertising sector, we have to sell London as the global centre of advertising to stop Amsterdam taking this title. Amsterdam is trying very hard to lure skills from London including giving financial incentives.”
