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The big companies that already have a presence in multiple European cities won't have a big impact on staff. Take Google for example, people staying in London c
by hueving 10y ago
The big companies that already have a presence in multiple European cities won't have a big impact on staff. Take Google for example, people staying in London can keep working at that office, people that want to leave (or are forced to leave) can work in many of the other European locations (e.g. Berlin, Paris, Zurich, Vienna).
Smaller tech companies will probably be hit the hardest if they only have a London presence and they lose half of their employees. Depending on the employee composition, it may even make sense to move the company entirely to another country in Europe.
- cjrp 10y ago> Depending on the employee composition, it may even make sense to move the company entirely to another country in Europe. Similarly, if you're starting a company it probably makes sense to make Berlin or somewhere like that your home. Why risk potentially having your supply of engineers reduced dramatically post-Brexit? Funding could start to dry up in the UK for the same reason.
- corford 10y agoIf I was incorporating in Europe today and didn't need SEIS/EIS I'd definitely at least look at Ireland, Germany, Malta and Estonia before automatically picking the UK. The criteria would be something like: 1). Is it easy to do most company filing work, taxes, VAT etc. on-line 2). Is it easy to open a business bank account there 3). Are investors familiar with that country 4). Is the required paid up share capital on incorporation small 5). Is the process quick (and corporate tax rate & legal compliance burden not too onerous)
- cjrp 10y agoLower corporation tax too.
- zigzigzag 10y agoWhy would they lose half their employees? The only way Brexit involves people being forced to leave where they live is if the EU forces it to happen. The UK has already said many times it wants to take that possibility off the table as soon as possible.
- zelos 10y agoAssuming that the UK does end up with tighter immigration controls from the EU, getting staff in future is going to be harder, even if those already here aren't forced to leave. Whether those controls will actually make any difference to highly-educated, well-paid, in-demand employees like software developers, I don't know.
- zigzigzag 10y agoSoftware developers of various kinds are actually on the UK government list of "professions with a shortage", meaning they get immigration priority. (note: not _all_ developers, the list goes into particular backgrounds and specialities).
- denis1 10y agoWhile developers might get "priority" immigration you still have more overhead compared to the "no fuss, just find a place to rent" deal those developers would get in other European countries. For example, I would consider UK after brexit only if I get a substantially better deal than anywhere else in Europe. Otherwise it is just not worth going through the "immigration" process.
- urbanj 10y ago> The UK has already said many times it wants to take that possibility off the table as soon as possible. Words are cheap. If they really wanted to do it, they would have done it already. I guess you're also expecting the NHS to get £350 million a week extra soon.
- cmdkeen 10y agoThere are also all sorts of legal barriers to kicking out people who have been in the UK for any length of time. It simply isn't the case that there are going to be millions of people forced to leave. Future immigration policy will need to be decided - I can't see a scenario in which talented Europeans who want to work in the UK are going to be turned away. More interesting will be what happens to tech immigration from the rest of world. It is entirely possible that we end up with easier immigration to/from North America as a result.