"People I worked with are really a multinational force, which was very demanding, but the experience also broadened my vision," said Tao.

This year, IBM plans to move about 600 people from China to join its worldwide training program.

More than 4,500 employees in different countries have already completed the program or are in the process of training.

The reason for such a large-scale program? It's to allow human resources departments across the globe to complement each other, and balance out talent shortages.

"In most of the Western world, there is a decline of working-age people as people of the baby-boomer generation are reaching retirement age within the next 10 years," explained IBM's Bush. "However, emerging countries like China and India have a tremendous talent pool."

The ability to predict future skills, locate experts and foster collaborations between them are the three critical success factors to developing an adaptable workforce in the modern world, suggests IBM's study.

This is a view echoed by Antal International's Ryan Owen. Sending staff on international assignments is an effective method of balancing staffing between talent-rich and talent-poor countries, he said.

However, this can prove costly, especially when considering low staff retention in some countries. "Ultimately it does not make economic sense to train candidates abroad for them to return to their home country and immediately seek alternative employment," Owen noted.

Tom Peppard, vice president of IBM global delivery centers in China and Vietnam, said that the cost of its training was no less than that of hiring - but gave better value.

(Shanghai Daily March 25, 2008)