In Praise of "Foreign Workers"

In the wake of the EU referendum, Germany’s Free Democratic Party sent a truck to drive around Shoreditch – the heart of London’s tech scene – with the words “Dear start-ups, keep calm and move to Berlin” on the side.

Somewhat less wittily, the business district of Paris is inviting City workers who are “Tired of the fog” to “Try the Frogs!” instead. The French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, has dangled the carrot of 50% tax breaks to lure top executives to his capital.

Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Dublin and Amsterdam are also hoping for a Brexodus of businesses and talent driven by the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s place in Europe and its access to the Single Market.

A few years ago French bankers flocked to London in response to Francois Hollande’s tax hikes and hostile stance towards the world of finance. Post-Brexit, that flow has slowed to a trickle.

This is not, however, purely a matter of international corporations choosing where to allocate resources, or individuals selecting the most favourable tax regime. People decide where they want to live and work according to a range of factors, and very high on the list of considerations is whether they and their families expect to feel at home.

One consequence of the referendum is that many highly skilled, highly mobile, high tax-paying EU citizens no longer feel very welcome in the UK. Some even fear for their future here. Managers at our businesses have done their best to calm such fears among our own non-British employees, but noises emanating from Westminster have not made that task any easier.

The Cabinet Office has said that it expects the post-Brexit legal status of EU nationals in the UK to be protected, but senior ministers have described those same people as “cards” in negotiations with Europe, and MPs voted against a motion calling on the Government to guarantee their right to stay.

In recent weeks we have heard the abysmal and retrograde proposal that British firms should be forced to reveal how many foreign workers they have on their books. It may have been shot down quickly, but it was a kite that should never have been flown. In the UK a significant number of our people come from other countries. Is that something we are supposed to be ashamed of?

In fact, I don’t mind revealing such details – quite the opposite. I’m proud to be able to say, for example, that non-British EU nationals make up some 15% of our UK workforce. They enrich our business, they bring different qualities and fresh perspectives, they expand our horizons and they help us grow.

WPP itself is an avowedly international business, and I’m proud of that too. We operate in 113 countries, and employ approximately 200,000 people worldwide. The UK is our second biggest market after the United States, with around 17,000 people – a figure that has grown by a third in the last five years.

We are not a rootless global elite, but a diverse community (the more diverse the better). We have been successful in the UK not because we drape ourselves in the Union Jack when we pitch for business, but because we are outward-looking and international by nature. Citizens of the world, you might say. Global clients see our UK businesses as excellent hubs, linked seamlessly to markets all over the planet.

The creative industries, including advertising and marketing services, are among the fastest growing in the UK, contributing an estimated ￡84 billion a year to the economy. One of the reasons for this success is Britain’s reputation as a global centre for the ambitious and talented, founded on our openness and our worldwide connections. Nationalistic, isolationist rhetoric imperils this status.

In reality, the chances of companies ever being shamed into reducing the number of overseas employees are, surely, vanishingly slim. The same goes, we must hope, for the repatriation of resident EU nationals. Even the Vote Leave campaign pledged there would be “no change for EU citizens already lawfully resident in the UK.”

But mood music matters. Perception matters. Britain’s brand, how we are seen in the eyes of the world, matters.

European competitors to British-based companies can’t believe their luck. Anyone who thinks they are not using Brexit to gain an edge when vying for talent or business is na?ve in the extreme. We see it every day. It’s one of the reasons we are now investing more time, effort and capital in countries like Germany, France, Italy and Spain (four of our top 10 markets worldwide) – as well as in Brussels.

Since the referendum we have acquired businesses in Belgium and France, and invested in the company behind French media outlets including Le Monde and VICE France. We are also investing in a new home for our agencies in Amsterdam, housing 1,500 people and 30 businesses.

In Western Continental Europe we have revenues of more than US$4 billion. That’s nearly 20% of our business. We employ 27,000 people there. In a post-Brexit world we have to protect our position and influence in such critical markets.

In the UK, the Government can and should provide immediate reassurance over the status of EU workers, and make it unequivocally clear that Britain is still a place that embraces hard-working, talented people, no matter where they come from. If it doesn’t, the only beneficiaries will be Paris, Berlin and the host of other cities and nations queuing up to offer the welcome that the UK appears to have withdrawn.   

This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph

Photo: Getty Images