Australia's Corporate Brain Drain: Why Offshoring High-Value Jobs Threatens Our Future

This year, some of Australia’s biggest and best known companies – Telstra, National Australia Bank (NAB), Officeworks and Woolworths – have decided to cut jobs locally, while creating more overseas. Those will mainly be in India, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Sending jobs offshore – also known as “offshoring” – is not new. For decades, companies have shifted call centres, routine processing and back office work offshore.

Now, firms are also increasingly moving other higher value roles overseas. These include technology development, artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, cybersecurity, finance, digital operations and even human relations.

These are not peripheral activities. They are the capabilities that help organisations innovate, solve problems and compete. Australian companies are not simply moving work offshore. They are globalising key parts of their corporate brain.

What’s been announced?

A series of announcements this year suggest this offshoring shift is accelerating among leading Australian companies.

• Telstra (February 2026): up to 650 Australian jobs could go, with some roles shifting to a “specialist hub” in India.
• NAB (March and May 2026): preparing to reduce staff by 170 in Australia while adding 237 roles in India and Vietnam, with potential expansion of more than 1,000 employees.
• Officeworks (May 2026): hundreds of technology, support, and back-office roles lost in Sydney and Melbourne, expected to go to India and the Philippines or be replaced by AI.
• Woolworths (June 2026): confirmed plans to send some of its 10,000 corporate staff offshore, with hundreds expected to go from IT, finance, and HR.

Why companies say they need to act

Companies argue these changes are not just about cost-cutting, but also about improving efficiency, accessing people with specialised skills, and staying globally competitive. For instance, Woolworths said the changes were needed to “remain competitive with the rapid expansion of international players in Australia’s market.”

Their logic is understandable. Technology workers are expensive and often difficult to recruit locally. Countries like India, Vietnam, and the Philippines now possess large pools of highly skilled engineers, data scientists, and digital professionals.

The concern is not simply that jobs are moving overseas. It is what Australia might miss out on if this trend continues.

What’s Australia really losing?

The roles increasingly being sent offshore – such as AI, analytics, cybersecurity, and digital operations – are where firms develop products, analyse customers, improve processes, and build future capabilities.

If more of this work moves offshore, Australia risks retaining the brands and customers, but gradually losing expertise needed to underpin long-term competitiveness.

There is also a talent pipeline issue. Many of these positions are entry points for graduates and early-career professionals – where people acquire skills and prepare for more senior leadership roles.

The effects may not be immediately visible. But if this trend continues, Australia risks becoming more dependent on imported expertise while producing fewer opportunities for career development here.

What can we do?

Finding and hiring the best global talent has become a normal feature of modern business. The challenge is ensuring that offshoring complements, rather than replaces, Australia’s ability to develop its own workforce.

That will require a better coordinated response from government, universities, TAFEs, and employers.

Australia needs stronger investment in AI, cybersecurity, and digital skills, alongside better graduate pathways and reskilling opportunities.

Universities and TAFEs need to do more to prepare students for an AI-driven labour market, focusing not only on technical expertise but also on adaptive skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, digital and AI literacy, and encouraging lifelong learning.

Corporate leaders also have a role to play. Companies based in Australia benefit from Australian consumers and operating in a stable, open economy.

Not every role can be expected to stay in Australia. But our major companies should be as transparent as possible about which capabilities are being moved offshore – and how they are still going to invest in local talent development.

Consumers, shareholders, and superannuation funds can also ask companies harder questions. For instance, if high-value work is being sent offshore, what’s being done to ensure the next generation of Australian talent still has a pathway into these careers?

Access to global talent can strengthen Australian firms. But we also need to see greater investment in the next generation of Australian workers, who will shape our economic future.