According to research from Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, 53% of large multi-national UK employers have or are considering moving HR abroad by 2015 - and 81% are considering moving at least one business function out of the UK - including IT (68%) and finance (58%). One in seven companies (15%) has already moved manufacturing output overseas.
Although currently only 13% of respondents have a head office outside the UK, 38% are considering moving their head office abroad in order to stay competitive.
Three quarters of firms (76%) think this will make them more competitive in a global market.
The erosion of UK competitiveness has been put down to high operating costs, including wages (77%), tax rates (69%), regulatory burden (66%), low domestic growth rates (65%) and lack of skilled personnel (58%).
David Stern, UK managing partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants,
said: "The recession has prompted our largest companies to re-examine the UK as a business location in terms of skills, cost and infrastructure.
"Globalisation is enabling them to consider unprecedented levels of offshoring across all aspects of their business, which could result in permanent damage to the UK job market and economy."
HR professionals' future uncertain as more companies move the function abroad
More than half of British companies have already moved or are considering moving their HR functions abroad, highlighting the unstable situation for UK HR professionals.
