Articles & Papers

CEE Executive Mobility 2026: What’s Driving Movement Across the Region

Perspectives from 30 senior executives on relocation decisions and leadership mobility across CEE

Participant Profile

The participant group represents a diverse group of leaders:

  • Executives employed by organisations headquartered primarily in the United States, France, Hungary, Germany, and the Netherlands
    • US companies stand out with the highest representation at eight executives, followed by France with five and Hungary with four.
    • Germany and the Netherlands each account for four executives, and Italy two, while Denmark, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, and Poland headquartered companies each have one representative.
  • 56% of respondents hold responsibility for a single market within CEE, while 44% oversee broader regional roles, including CEE or EMEA responsibilities
    • Overall, the data highlights a strong concentration of senior and mid‑senior leaders, providing a broad and well‑rounded view of executive mobility across organisational levels.

 

  • Participants represented a broad mix of industries, with Energy, Pharmaceuticals, and Consumer sectors accounting for more than half of the sample

  • The country-of-origin data shows a strong and well-balanced distribution, with Central and Eastern Europe accounting for the largest share of respondents at 63% (including participants from Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria). The United Kingdom represents the next largest group at 13.3%, followed by Italy, France, Germany and Greece.

Most respondents brought more than 25 years of professional experience, and over three-quarters had relocated within the region during the past decade, with several having completed multiple international assignments.

Number of years of professional experience:

A pie chart titled “2.6 Number of years of professional experience,” based on 30 responses. The chart shows three segments: 73.3% in orange representing respondents with 25+ years of experience, 23.3% in red representing those with 16–25 years, and 3.3% in blue representing respondents with 10–15 years of professional experience. The legend on the right lists the three experience categories with corresponding colors.

Together, these perspectives provide a valuable view of executive mobility from leaders who have personally experienced relocation within Central and Eastern Europe in the past 10 years, more than 50% having relocated at least twice, some more than 4 times.

 

Have you relocated for work within the CEE or into the region in the past 10 years?

Overall, 24.1% of respondents reported that they had not relocated for work during this period, while 75.9% indicated that they had. This shows that a significant majority of respondents have undertaken at least one work-related relocation either within the CEE region or into the region during this timeframe.

 

How many relocations have you made in the region?

A pie chart titled “3.3 How many relocations have you made in the region?” based on 27 responses. The chart is divided into four segments: 48.1% in red representing respondents who have made one relocation, 25.9% in yellow representing those who have made two to three relocations, 14.8% in blue representing respondents who have made no relocations, and 11.1% in green representing respondents who have made four or more relocations. The legend on the right displays each category with its corresponding color.
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