British Businesses Offshoring Talent Due to NI Rise

• The Legends Agency reports 25-fold growth in the past year of businesses hiring talent in South Africa.
• The company has expanded its team from seven to 70, and increased annual revenue from £300,000 to £7.2m in one year.

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A LONDON-based recruitment firm that specialises in South African offshoring of talent has experienced 25x growth, attracting big name clients.

The Legends Agency, which has offices in London and Cape Town, has increased revenue from £300,000-a-year to £7.2m-a-year in just 12 months.

Over the same period, its team has increased ten-fold from seven to 70 professionals.

Almost all of its growth is from UK businesses that can save 50 percent by hiring in South Africa where salaries and the cost of living are lower.

A common language, a high level of education and very close time zone proximity, with South Africa just one hour ahead, have always made South Africa an attractive destination for offshoring talent.

The wish to have teams together in the office before the pandemic generally held British companies back from hiring outside the UK. However, lockdown showed business owners that they could run their businesses remotely.

A series of measures making hiring employees more expensive, such as the NI increase, and more risky due to increased worker rights from day one has led to a massive rise in employers looking to build their teams abroad.

London-based Director of The Legends Agency Alex Fenton said:

“Since the Labour government took office in July, a wave of anti-business policies — including national insurance hikes and surging wage pressures — has triggered an exodus of both wealth and opportunity. Millionaires are leaving, and business owners are offshoring jobs in large numbers.

“Usually the jobs being offshored should be earmarked for the young and learning or lower paid people in employment; exactly the sort of people our leaders purport to be standing for.

“Our clients come to us because they are pressured to save costs, but they stay for the outstanding talent and performance of their South African teams, who consistently exceed expectations.”