How employers in Asia have responded to Brexit

As a result of a referendum in June which 51.9% voted to leave the EU, the United Kingdom is going to withdraw from the European Union (EU).  The move had caused a panic across industries as employers try to evaluate the impact it will have on their business.

Gathering insights from 165 APAC-based business leaders,  executive search and leadership consulting firm Harvey Nash, has launched a “Brexit’s Impact on Asia” survey.

More than a third (34%) of the respondents reported Brexit has a negative impact on their businesses.  For the short-term impact of Brexit, companies anticipated that it might become a hurdle for regulatory harmonisation and has allocated  more resources for regulatory issues.

Businesses are also taking measures in response to the uncertainty, including reducing budgets and cost measures until the effects are clearly understood.

For the long-term impact, business leaders are more optimistic.  "The only impact will be if the EU slowly collapses following Brexit. The UK is not important enough to our business for it to have an impact.” stated one respondent.

“It will be difficult to isolate the effects of Brexit amidst a highly volatile world. I believe that Britain will look to forge stronger alliances with their former colonies like Hong Kong. “ said another respondent.

On a more positive note, 15% believe Brexit is good for their business, the revealed that 45% believe that Asia will see more opportunities as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

On getting prepared for Brexit, 59% of Asian businesses did not have a response or contingency plan in place to deal with Brexit and only 9% reported they were fully prepared.

However, the impact of Brexit has been less severe than many anticipated. 51% of APAC businesses believe Brexit, and the resulting market conditions, have not affected their operations.

According to the report, regardless of Brexit, Asia has seen an influx of workers from all over the world because of the slowdown of the economies in Europe, US and Latin America but also because everyone knows that the growth is here in Asia for the next century.

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