Navigating the skills shortage: international hires

For MHA, international hiring is not just a reactive response to a challenging employment market, but a strategic approach to building resilient, adaptable, skills-rich teams.

MHA is a rapidly growing firm, with a diverse client base, operating in a challenging employment market.

The expansion we are experiencing generates opportunities for our people and creates an agile, exciting workplace environment. That said, the accountancy sector is increasingly complex, marked by evolving regulatory frameworks and technological advancements, meaning the focus on quality and risk is even more heightened. The well-being of our staff and the provision of opportunities that develop and energise our people, harnessing the potential of our workforce is something we will not accept ‘gets lost’ in the pursuit of other commercial aims; a people-first approach is a key strategic pillar at MHA.

We have developed creative solutions to address our rising resource needs and one of those streams is international hiring. The original driver for international recruitment was born from necessity – enabling growth in a skills-short market – requiring high-quality, qualified hires to meet expanding client needs. It has meant that we’ve been able to augment our workforce and create an even more diverse and exciting environment. Diversity of ideas, skills, and multi-jurisdiction experience are just a few advantages.

Hiring from a significantly larger talent pool has allowed us to bring in specialist skills, fill difficult roles, support our current workforce by meeting our staffing needs appropriately, and enhance our client offering.

Immigration support is complex though and there are things employers should consider before looking to hire further afield. Let’s not forget, that we are supporting people through a huge life shift, in many cases moving hundreds of miles, to an unfamiliar country. It’s important to get it right given the impact on the candidate, the current workforce, and client service delivery.

A few things we’d recommend employers consider:

• It’s key to ensure identified candidates get the best possible feel for the firm and its culture as possible, without physically seeing the office environment.
• Consider your business model and how it may differ. You might want staff to mentor juniors for example, which may be a new concept. Don’t assume, conduct a training needs analysis.
• Do you have an immigration consultant in-house? If not, you will need this expertise to deal with the process and ensure there are no hiccups.
• Do you have anyone in your organisation thats moved from abroad? If so, could they act as a buddy to the new recruit and as an advisor to you?
• Ensure you understand the minimum salary requirements on visas. Are you able to meet this for the role/s in hand?

For employers struggling to recruit domestically in the post-Brexit labour market, however, employing candidates from overseas is neither easy nor cheap.

To be permitted to bring workers to the UK, you must first apply for a Sponsor Licence. This entails providing a lot of information and documentation as well as having to justify to the Home Office that you need to employ overseas labour. There is a fee to pay; if the licence application is successful, you must then assign a Certificate of Sponsorship to your candidate for which there is a further fee along with the payment of the Immigration Skills Charge. Finally, there is a visa application fee for the individual to pay as well as the Immigration Health Surcharge (which must be paid so that your migrant worker can access the NHS during their period of leave in the UK).

Visa application fees increased in October 2023, followed by an increase to the Immigration Health Surcharge from 6 February 2024, which meant that for a Skilled Worker on a five-year visa, costs have leapt from £3,120 to £5,175. Your candidate will have to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge for the whole period of leave upfront at the time of application.

This has greatly increased the cost of coming to the UK to work for migrant workers and will surely have deterred some, meaning that you not only face higher costs if you wish to employ from overseas, but also potentially a reduced pool of candidates.

In addition, the Government has announced that the minimum Skilled Worker salary will increase from £26,200 to £38,700 with effect from 1 April 2024 (NB if the “going rate” for the role as determined by the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code is higher, that will prevail). Again, this is a significant rise which will impact you if you are seeking to recruit from overseas.

Our international connections as the UK member of Baker Tilly International allows us to help companies with all aspects of global mobility, including employment tax advice, immigration assistance, minimum wage compliance, and a broad range of other compliance and human resources issues.

Reinhart van der Merwe, Senior Audit Manager

Reinhardt, a 27 year-old Chartered Accountant from South Africa joined MHA as an Audit Manager at our Thames Valley office on a 5 year Skilled Worker visa in August 2022.

Here he talks about his experience

As an Audit Manager in South Africa, the prospect of working abroad, building international experience and advancing my career was compelling, especially coming from a developing country.

Most accountants love spreadsheets, so it’s not surprising I listed my top 5 countries in Microsoft Excel, rating them based on questions such as how easy it would be to get my dogs over, the strength of the local currency, the cost of living, ease of travel for holidays and the time zone difference to back home. I also took into account recommendations from friends and family and how easy it would be to fully integrate, in terms of language, laws and values.

For me, England won hands down against the likes of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA and the Netherlands.

In order to make the move, I opted to apply for a 5 year Skilled Worker visa. It’s worth noting that the costs can be quite signifi cant, which include not only the visa application and the immigration health surcharge for foreign nationals, but also other associated costs for things like medical tests, verifying my qualifications and confirming my ability to speak and write English etc. Then there are costs like flights, shipping my furniture by container and the costs involved to get the rest of my family over (including my two dogs).

Overall, I’ve found the transition from being an Audit Manager in South Africa to an Audit Manager for MHA in the UK has been very easy and relatively seamless. I’ve been able to work with a whole a range of clients, from owner-managed businesses to large global enterprises and I have an incredibly supportive team around me. While the UK is ahead of South Africa in terms of technology and digitalisation, both countries have similar processes.

It could be down to South Africa being part of the Commonwealth, but the transition to British life has also been a lot easier than expected. I often forget I’m over 10,000km away from home! We drive on the same side of the road, our laws are similar, our beliefs are similar, our everyday language is English, and the names of places are very similar too.

For example, I grew up in a coastal town in South Africa called “East London”. The town’s Highstreet was called “Oxford Street” and I lived in a neighbourhood called “Cambridge”…

Besides, the odd Guinness and pork pie does go down nicely after a long day’s work!

I have absolutely no regrets!

You can find out more about our firm, our services and career opportunities here: www.mha.co.uk or contact us by email: [email protected] or call: 01628 955915