Switzerland leads the list measuring how countries are able to attract, select, develop and retain talented employees. It is followed by Singapore, the United Kingdom, the Unites States and Sweden.
These are the findings of the 2017 edition of the Global Talent Competitive Index (GTCI), released this week by INSEAD, the world's leading business school. In partnership with The Adecco Group and the Human Capital Leadership Institute of Singapore (HCLI), the GTCI measured 118 countries in their ability to compete for talent in an international market.
Strong education system as key factor
One of the main reasons leading to Switzerland's top ranking is its strong education system that meets the needs of economy. As a high-income country, Switzerland relies on innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaborative partnerships for growth. This leads to a pool of highly qualified employees with global leadership skills and specialised personnel with a vocational background. In Switzerland, it is easy for companies to find qualified, multilingual, motivated, and loyal employees. Swiss universities regularly occupy top places in international university rankings The Swiss education system also combines high-quality vocational training with university education. This dual system fuels the country's capacity for innovation and creativity, factors that are crucial to keep and attract skilled workforce. Retaining talent is further facilitated by the high quality of life in Switzerland.
Switzerland is ready for technology
According to the ranking, Switzerland is particularly well positioned based on assessment of talent readiness for technology. The Swiss employment policies favour flexibility, innovation, mobility and entrepreneurship, and stakeholders are well-connected in business and government. As stated by the report, these conditions are essential to keep up with the challenges that come with digitalisation and automation. Successful transformational change is most likely to occur in strong ecosystems that can best adapt to the rapid changes associated particularly with Industry 4.0.
Zurich performs as second best city worldwide
Strong ecosystems with favourable circumstances for talent competitiveness are particularly evident in cities. This edition of the GTCI report therefore focuses not only on countries but also singles out cities that perform best. Among 46 cities, Zurich appears in second place of this ranking, shortly after Copenhagen and followed by Helsinki and San Francisco.
Read all about the key advantages of Switzerland as a business location in the latest edition of our Handbook for Investors.
Find further articles on international rankings in our news archive.
