The 2018 Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) report found that Switzerland still leads the way in terms of talent competitiveness, followed by Singapore and the United States. In general, European countries continue to dominate the GTCI rankings, with 15 in the top 25. This year's edition also revealed that the top ten countries have several key characteristics in common and share one major feature: they all have a well-developed educational system providing the social and collaboration skills needed for employability in today's labour market.



2018 GTCI Talent persity and competitiveness will fuel the future of work. On further examination, there are several other characteristics in common between the top-ranking countries:
 
A flexible regulatory and business landscape
Employment policies which combine flexibility and social protection
External and internal openness
The rank of China raises 11 placements in this year, from 54th in 2017 to 43rd. China still outperforms other BRICS countries, where Russia, South Africa, Brazil and India rank 53rd, 63rd, 73rd and 81st respectively. Although China attains an impressive place in the pillar of Global Knowledge (GK) skills, which is mainly supported by good talent impact and new product entrepreneurial activity, the shortage of Attract shows up clearly.
 
In addition to the talent competitiveness ranking, this year's report investigated the theme of 'Diversity for competitiveness'. Three types of persity were distinguished: cognitive, identity and preference (or value). The theme of persity (collaboration between people with different personalities, knowledge sets, experiences and perspectives) was chosen because it plays a critical role in linking talent policies to innovation strategies. Paying attention to demographic persity nurtures a sustainable and innovative future and helps organizations to retain and develop talent. Nevertheless, the report highlights that there is a cost to persity: people are often ill equipped to collaborate with others who are different from themselves.
 
The report, published today by INSEAD, the Business School for the World, in partnership with the Adecco Group and Tata Communications, is a comprehensive annual benchmarking measuring how countries and cities grow, attract and retain talent, providing a unique resource for decision makers to understand the global talent competitiveness picture and develop strategies for boosting their competitiveness.
 
Top 20 rankings in detail and results for specific variables
 
The 2018 edition of GTCI includes 68 variables (65 in 2017), covering 119 countries and 90 cities (respectively 118 and 46 in 2017). This year again, GTCI scores are led by developed, high-income countries.
 
■ Switzerland maintains its number 1 position, followed by Singapore and the United States.
■ European countries continue to dominate the GTCI rankings, with 15 of them in the top 25.
■ Among the non-European countries ranking high this year, are Australia (11th), New Zealand (12th), Canada (15th), the United Arab Emirates (17th), and Japan (20th) for example.
■ Latin America often leads in producing female graduates (Argentina ranks 5th on that variable).
■ Efforts in education (compared to GDP per capita) are high in Africa (Botswana is 1st, Lesotho 2nd, Senegal 5th) showing that the challenges have been correctly identified in that area, though the effectiveness of those investments can still be improved.

2018 Top GTCI 25 Rankings
 
The index assesses the policies and practices that enable a country to attract, develop and retain both 'Technical/Vocational skills' and the 'Global Knowledge skills' associated with innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership - the talent that contributes to productivity and prosperity.

Overall ranking	Country	Score
1	Switzerland	79.9
2	Singapore	78.42
3	United States of America	75.34
4	Norway	74.56
5	Sweden	74.32
6	Finland	73.95
7	Denmark	73.79
8	United Kingdom	73.11
9	Netherlands	72.56
10	Luxembourg	71.64
11	Australia	71.61
12	New Zealand	71.52
13	Ireland	71.38
14	Iceland	70.48
15	Canada	69.63
16	Belgium	69.56
17	United Arab Emirates	68.88
18	Austria	68.63
19	Germany	67.77
20	Japan	62.63
21	France	62.61
22	Estonia	61.93
23	Qatar	61.9
24	Israel	61.79
25	Czech Republic	60.02

This year's leader in the Global Cities Talent Competitiveness Index is Zurich (2nd last year).
 
8 out of the top 10 ranking cities are located in Europe, and 2 in the United States of America. High-ranking cities show similarities. As in the case of countries, over time, higher GDP levels naturally lead to higher technology penetration, creating ecosystems with better quality education, business, healthcare and infrastructure. This virtuous cycle leads to stronger talent competitiveness. In addition, higher-ranked universities attract a superior calibre of teaching and research staff, providing more skilled talent to the labour market. The energy and innovativeness of local leadership (including mayors and 'talent agencies') can also play a significant role. The impact of dense and efficient information networks is particularly important when it comes to attracting and retaining talent, as shown by the performance of 'smart cities' such as Singapore, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or Doha.
 
In China, Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Tianjin are ranked 55th, 66th, 70th, 73rd, 77th and 83rd respectively.
 
The challenge of persity
 
The in-depth supplementary analysis of the 2018 report reveals how organisations, cities and nations are approaching persity. It reveals that persity is not an end in itself, but must always be accompanied by a culture of inclusion in order to flourish and have real impact. Targets and statistics cannot replace cultural acceptance and openness.
 
GTCI findings, however, show that there is no absolute model for persity and inclusion. Switzerland, for example, does not score as well as its top GTCI position would imply on leadership opportunities for women. The Nordics score remarkably well on most variables related to collaboration, internal openness, social mobility and gender equality, but they struggle in external openness, and hence in attracting talent.
 
"Diversity is a crucial leverage for innovation". Peter Zemsky, Deputy Dean and Dean of Innovation of INSEAD, stresses that "Frameworks for organisational leadership emphasise the behavioural importance of networking externally rather than internally. Today, fuelled by the explosion of information in the knowledge economy, exploiting local innovation opportunities is becoming more important for the competitive advantage of corporations than exploiting R&D at corporate headquarters".
 
Alain Dehaze, Adecco Group Chief Executive Officer, "Focusing on persity and inclusion is crucial to overcome the fractures and inequalities of our age. This means nurturing a culture of inclusion, starting at home and school, fighting bias and developing social and collaborative skills, which are key to unleash the power of work and will make the future work for everyone."
 
Vinod Kumar, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Tata Communications, asserts the view that: "As digital transformation becomes a priority for more and more organisations, highly automated technologies fuelled by AI are entering the workplace. As humans and machines start to work side-by-side, businesses must start viewing talent and persity generated competitiveness as extending beyond humankind to include machine. In accepting the primacy of digital infrastructure, neither talent nor persity will be considered as exclusive to people alone."
 
For more information on the Global Talent Competitiveness Index and to download the full report, please visit: https://gtcistudy.com/
 
About INSEAD, The Business School for the World

As one of the world's leading and largest graduate business schools, INSEAD brings together people, cultures and ideas to change lives and to transform organisations. A global perspective and cultural persity are reflected in all aspects of our research and teaching.
 
With campuses in Europe (Fontainebleau), Asia (Singapore) and the Middle East (Abu Dhabi), INSEAD's business education and research spans three continents. The school's 145 renowned Faculty members from 40 countries inspire more than 1,400 degree participants annually in its MBA, Executive MBA, Executive Master in Finance, Executive Master in Consulting and Coaching for Change and PhD programmes. In addition, more than 11,000 executives participate in INSEAD's executive education programmes each year. In addition, INSEAD participates in academic partnerships with number of universities around the world. INSEAD became a pioneer of international business education with the graduation of the first MBA class on the in 1960. Around the world and over the decades, INSEAD continues to conduct cutting edge research and to innovate across all its programmes to provide business leaders with the knowledge and sensitivity to operate anywhere. These core values have enabled INSEAD to become truly "The Business School for the World". INSEAD's MBA programme is ranked #1 by the Financial Times in 2016 and 2017.
www.insead.edu
 
About The Adecco Group

The Adecco Group is the world's leading HR solutions partner. We provide more than 700,000 people with permanent and flexible employment every day. With more than 33,000 employees in 60 countries, we transform the world of work one job at a time. Our colleagues serve more than 100,000 organisations with the talent, HR services and cutting-edge technology they need to succeed in an ever-changing global economy. As a Fortune Global 500 company, we lead by example, creating shared value that meets social needs while driving business innovation. Our culture of inclusivity, fairness and teamwork empowers inpiduals and organisations, fuels economies, and builds better societies. These values resonate with our employees, who voted us number 2 on the Great Place to Work® - World's Best Workplaces 2017 list. We make the future work for everyone.
 
The Adecco Group is based in Zurich, Switzerland. Adecco Group AG is registered in Switzerland (ISIN: CH0012138605) and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ADEN). The group is powered by eight lead brands: Adecco, Modis, Badenoch & Clark, Spring Professional, Lee Hecht Harrison, Pontoon, Adia and YOSS.
www.adeccogroup.com
 
About Tata Communications

Tata Communications Limited along with its subsidiaries (Tata Communications) is a leading global provider of A New World of Communications™. With a leadership position in emerging markets, Tata Communications leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across its global network to deliver managed solutions to multi-national enterprises and communications service providers.
 
The Tata Communications global network includes one of the most advanced and largest submarine cable networks and a Tier-1 IP network with connectivity to more than 240 countries and territories across 400 PoPs, as well as nearly 1 million square feet of data centre and colocation space worldwide.
 
Tata Communications' depth and breadth of reach in emerging markets includes leadership in Indian enterprise data services and leadership in global international voice communications. Tata Communications Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.
www.tatacommunications.com
Tata Communications and Tata are trademarks of Tata Sons Limited in certain countries.