Why we must halt the digital brain drain from Yorkshire to the South-East - Martin Calvert

Yorkshire – and Leeds in particular – is often rightly recognised as having a significant role in the UK’s digital and media landscape.
Yorkshire has deep digital heritage but also numerous opportunities to build a future career in digital.Yorkshire has deep digital heritage but also numerous opportunities to build a future career in digital.
Yorkshire has deep digital heritage but also numerous opportunities to build a future career in digital.

With an almost implausible amount of award-winning (and legitimately good) digital agencies, the presence of major media powerhouses like Channel 4, numerous digital festivals and major online businesses such as Stars Group, Pharmacy2U and Buy It Direct, it’s true to say that Yorkshire has deep digital heritage but also numerous opportunities to build a future career in digital.

However, there are indications that companies, educational institutions and government could – and must – do better. Last year, the Social Mobility Commission research uncovered that the ‘brain drain” from Yorkshire to the South-East remains a real phenomenon, with ‘Movers’ on average earning 33 per cent more than ‘stayers’, while being 50 per cent more likely to have a degree.

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So, as notable as the current digital landscape in Yorkshire is, there’s a compelling argument that the region won’t reach its full potential so long as talent is lost to elsewhere. We’re simply not making a strong enough case for talented early-career professionals to stick around and develop their expertise locally – and I genuinely believe that perception of opportunities plays a huge role in this.

While it’s true that salaries are frequently higher in the capital, they’re just as easily eaten up by the different cost of living. More than this, when looking at the nature of early career roles in London, it’s very questionable if the learning and development opportunities typically surpass what’s available locally.

Certainly, having worked in Yorkshire agencies since 2015, I’ve seldom seen London digital agencies be recognised for excellence by global peers in the same way that Yorkshire and (in the interests of fairness) Manchester agencies are.

More than this, staff at absolutely every Prolific North Top 50 agency will have train times to Kings Cross imprinted in their minds. London-based brands absolutely recognise Northern talent and agency expertise.

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With this in mind, it feels like there’s a job to be done to communicate the esteem to which local digital businesses are held nationwide (and globally) and provide more straightforward pathways to careers.

Closer collaboration with universities and other educational institutions is key, and the 2022 launch of Leeds Beckett’s digital marketing apprenticeship BA (Hons) degree will be a great practical entry point for careers in digital, but also an opportunity to learn more about local firms and gain experience across Yorkshire.

More informally, agencies and digital businesses can do more to engage with academic institutions through open days, lectures and mentoring to take a greater role in shaping future talent while giving potential candidates more direct experience of local employers.

While the international nature of much of the work we do at ICS-digital has (by necessity) meant that we reach out to and train multilingual graduates, it feels that more recently established agencies are placing more of an emphasis on staff development.

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This bodes well but there’s still work to be done to expand the pool of talent, to take more chances and to bring new perspectives in.

Yorkshire will continue to be a digital powerhouse, but we won’t know the true scale of the region’s potential if employers don’t go above and beyond to engage talent, or if early career professionals don’t explore local opportunities fully – opportunities that have never been more accessible.

By Martin Calvert | Marketing Director | ICS‑digital LLP

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