If you’re the sort of person that likes to respond to surveys, you’ve probably shared your opinion countless times already on the subject of Britain’s potential exit from Europe, or Brexit. After all, you can’t open a newspaper or browse any sort of website finding multiple stories on the potential impact of June’s in/out vote.
APSCo was the latest to share its own findings this week, indicating that professional hiring continues unshaken by the prospect that a majority may decide to vote for the UK to leave the EU. Employers, it seems, are not too worried about their current hiring plans being scuppered by a decision to leave.
And there have been countless other surveys suggesting anything from a complete brain drain should we leave, to predictions on what an exit might cost businesses.
The fact is, as APSCo’s survey highlights, nothing is going to happen just yet. Even if there were to be a vote in favour of Brexit, there’s a two-year negotiation period in place just to decide the mechanisms by which we’ll leave – and many observers think it will take even longer. And once that negotiation is complete, nothing is likely to change overnight.
A sensible, practical approach to Brexit is to keep it on the radar. Companies that recruit from Europe might do well to do an audit on where their staff come from and anticipate any issues that might occur if these employees need to apply for visas or work on different contracts. Likewise they should monitor employment contracts in general as some clauses could require revision if we’re no longer bound by European Court of Justice judgements on things like working time.
But monitoring and being aware of your liabilities should be enough, for now. There’s enough political noise and pontification on the subject without us starting to re-organise businesses and radically change how we recruit. For once, the best advice is simply to wait and see.