A plan proposed by Science, Innovation, and Technology Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen to bring in more foreign workers for the hi-tech industry is being met with approval by tech leaders.
Earlier this week, Farkash-Hacohen asked the Tax Authority to develop a plan that would allow non-Israeli tech workers to get quick and easy authorizations to work in the country. The mandate would encourage more Jews to immigrate and also provide entry for many who are not qualified for citizenship under the Law of Return.
The hi-tech industry, which is a central pillar of the country’s economy, is growing rapidly, and companies say they cannot find enough people to hire to facilitate their growth.
The government is pursuing a number of avenues to increase technical training options for lower-skilled workers, but executives say they need the additional manpower now, not years into the future.
“While bringing foreign tech-talents to work in Israel is an idea [that has been] under discussion for years now, Israeli tech companies simply cannot afford to wait any longer for the government to issue these visas,” said Eli Barenboim, Israeli account executive at Deel, which provides global hiring compliance solutions. “Start-ups and growing tech companies are constantly working under challenging schedules and tight product road maps to beat their competition to the market, and if we can’t hire more manpower here, we will continue to witness more and more Israeli companies expanding their remote and global hiring plans even further in order to find the best talent for their open roles.”
Revital Lavie Cohen, VP of global human resources at Rapyd, which provides a platform for international payments, agreed.
“The program promoted by Farkash-Hacohen confirms the claim that hi-tech companies have been shouting for a long time, that there is currently an unprecedented manpower crisis in the industry,” she said.
“This crisis is reflected in a real shortage of tens of thousands of skilled and trained workers. If the crisis continues over time, the trend could harm the Israeli economy, lead to a loss of revenue to the state and the relocation of companies outside Israel,” she continued.
“Although we, like most companies in the country, want to build a large company here, at the moment there are not enough employees for all the companies and all the money raised. Our company has 550 employees worldwide from Iceland to Israel, and we have about 300 open positions in Israel alone. Foreign workers must be brought in for this purpose. We are currently building a center in Dubai where we have received approval in principle to recruit about 200 workers a day. In Israel, it takes a long time to get a permit to hire one employee.”
That being said, she added, such a move will be relevant only if it is implemented by the end of the year. If it takes longer, the impact will be much smaller, she said.
More flexible immigration policies would make Israel a destination for the world’s top tech talent, said Ben Rabinowitz, managing partner and founder at Amiti Venture capital.
“If we want to remain among the top two innovation hubs in the world, we need the best of the best engineers to dream of coming here,” he said. “We have a severe shortage in many areas of talent. Almost all of our companies that graduate from seed to A rounds start building teams abroad and outsourcing work to Serbia, Ukraine and other places.”
Five to ten thousand engineers a year should be allowed to enter Israel each year, Rabinowitz said.
However, Moshe Lipsker, SVP of global product development at cybersecurity firm Imperva, suggested that Israel looks closer to home before bringing in more foreign workers.
“We must first realize the existing potential and invest in training in the periphery and sectors such as the ultra-Orthodox,” he said. “The need to increase the supply of workers is clear. But the solution should be done in stages. Only after realizing the potential of these sectors can we start thinking of other solutions. In the corona age, it is possible to expand your workforce remotely without a need to import, because everyone works from home.”