The Luxoft Personnel company conducted research on attitudes toward emigration among Russian IT specialists in the fall of 2014. It was seen that 65% of the 4000 participants in the survey consider moving to another country a possibility, and 18% are prepared to do so in the near future.
There were also participants (17%) who, perhaps inspired by patriotic feelings, were completely satisfied with their current situation and status in Russia.
“Attitudes toward emigration among IT specialists in Russia are still strong,” said Varvara Agaponova, key account manager and senior consultant at Luxoft Personnel. “In other words, the number of those who are applying maximum effort to leave the country in the near future has increased, as has the number of those with patriotic feelings. Those dynamics are characteristic of a period of socio-economic destabilization in a country.”
There are twice as many potential emigrants among those with experience working for international corporations than among those without such experience (67% vs. 33%). Millennials with more than three years of work experience are the most frequently represented age group desiring to change their locale.
Among the more notable motivations for leaving Russia were the desire for better living conditions, a better climate and more developed infrastructure.
The majority of the participants in the study (60%) would want to stay in their new location permanently, in the event of moving. The remainder were prepared to stay abroad for several years, or as long as their project required.
However, far from all of them were prepared to take real action. Only a third of them were gathering information and considering the details of moving. Another 30%, mainly young specialists, were taking no action at all.
The temptation to emigrate among Russian IT specialists is not new. According to a survey conducted in 2011, 55% of IT job seekers living in Moscow and St. Petersburg contemplated leaving the country, while 22% had already taken some concrete steps in that direction.
Source: IKS Media
