For 20 years now, US consulting firm Mercer has been ranking the quality of living for hundreds of cities around the world to provide businesses with valuable information not just on where to send international employees but to also determine the needs and struggles their employees abroad may have. To no surprise, Germany once again commanded a place in the spotlight on this year’s list, placing in three spots within the top ten.
Munich placed the highest for Germany at number three on the list, while Düsseldorf and Frankfurt came in sixth and seventh respectively. Overall the top ten leaned very heavily towards Europe with Vienna, Austria taking the number one spot — its ninth year in the top position — while Switzerland also placed in three positions. In total, eight of the ten top cities are European cities.
Mercer uses an extensive set of data to determine the each city’s placement on the list, taking into consideration crime rate, political stability, education, healthcare, transportation, and recreation.
“With increasing globalisation and changing demographic of the workforce – attracting and retaining the right talent is set to be one of the key challenges for businesses over the next five years,” said Ilya Bonic, Senior Partner and President of Mercer’s Career business. “An increasingly diverse workforce is both more mobile and digital with highly diverging requirements and aspirations in terms of career, lifestyle and ultimately where and how they want to work. Companies need to consider these factors in their value proposition to both their local and their expatriate employees.”
Out of the 231 cities that made it onto the list, eight German cities made the list: Munich (3), Düsseldorf (6), Frankfurt (7), Berlin (13), Hamburg (19), Nurnberg (23), Stuttgart (28), and Leipzig (60).
