Nepal is a beautiful country with its unique opportunities and challenges.
Alicia and Ajay both attend a top management college in Kathmandu, center of colleges and universities in Nepal. Once they finish their undergraduate studies, they plan to pursue their graduate studies outside of Nepal (Europe, Australia, North America). After graduating top of their class, Alicia starts working at a technology company and Ajay starts working at a bank. After working a few years, they decide to pursue their graduate studies and apply to universities around the world. Alicia feels comfortable at her workplace and shares her graduate study plans with her supervisors and employer. Ajay is hesitant sharing his graduate study plans and wants to finalize his graduate admission first and then share the news with his employer.
Many employers across all industries are aware of this “going abroad” trend among the young professionals in Nepal. Some employers have systems in place to manage the transition better than others. With Alicia, her employer starts planning a transition, starts gathering institutional knowledge and puts out a vacancy internally and externally to fill her role. With Ajay, his employer will find out at the last minute his graduate study plans and will have to scramble to find a replacement, rush to collect his knowledge/expertise gained from having worked several years at the company, and might struggle to fill his position on time.
Given this circumstance, who should take more responsibility? Should employees better communicate their graduate and undergraduate plans with their employers? How should employers better prepare for migration trends of their employees and how should they handle when employees do share their going abroad plans (be it for studies, work etc.)? What can the company, industry, or the government do to understand these migration (studies, work etc) trends and better prepare as well as leverage the diaspora’s collective expertise and experiences to help the companies, industries and the country?