RPO and Talent Management Blog by Ochre House | Ochre Talk

The UK’s eroding EVP?

Businesses like ours spend years working with clients to formulate compelling employee value propositions (EVP) for our clients and how to get an unfair share of top talent through their doors. And then you get the UK authorities who are able to stick a spanner in the works with just a couple of poorly thought through pieces of tax legislation. 

The government is understandably looking at several ways of reducing its budget deficit, and by making it more difficult for non-residents or non-domiciled employees to pay little or no tax it will certainly be able to raise a few billion pounds towards this cause, however, the longer term detrimental effect of this hawkish tax approach will be far greater and much more difficult to quantify. It strikes me as if the government has not properly understood the nature of talent; it has become fluid and is no longer limited by traditional national boundaries. Top talent is resourceful and creative; it will seek ways around obstacles, and if that fails, it will vote with its feet. 

Turning the terms of trade against some of the most talented (and mobile) people in the UK workforce can only in the long run make the country and companies doing business in it poorer. Our job has therefore become suddenly much bigger, not only do we need to seek creative solutions for our clients, but we must work hard to educate the lawmakers.