In the news - Denmark is hungry for foreign labour

A low crime rate, a good balance between working life and private life, and a bus driver who wakes you up if you are asleep when you reach your destination. These are some of the things foreigners can expect, if they move to Denmark to work. The Danish labour market needs foreign labour, so there are great opportunities to build a career.

By Marlene Lyhne Sørensen

The Danish national anthem begins with the words Der er et yndigt land [There is a lovely land]. And indeed it is, with green hills and valleys, gently waving fields of corn and foaming blue sea, although not necessarily lovely enough to coax foreign labour to these shores. But from the Danish business community, the message is clear: foreign labour is wholeheartedly welcome and demographic trends clearly indicate a present and future need.

“Attracting foreign workers hinges on being able to offer a step up the career ladder in relation to what they can otherwise achieve, and Denmark frequently has some something to offer. There are many job opportunities and a modern management style which gives employees a fairly large say in decision-making. This can be especially attractive to foreigners who have grown up in more authoritarian environments,” says Australian Skip Bowman, who is a consultant at Life in Denmark, a network for foreign workers in Denmark.

Microsoft Development Center, which develops global business systems, is one of the companies in Denmark with a strong interest in attracting foreign labour. The center currently employs 850 people, one third of whom come from foreign countries including Ukraine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, USA and India.

“It has always been our objective to create an international workplace, and because of the shortage of IT specialists in Denmark, we intensified our recruitment efforts outside Denmark's borders three years ago,” says site leader Charlotte Mark.

Microsoft Development Center offers the opportunity to work in a highly technical environment and the prospect of an international career, which can pave the way for starting up one's own company.

Contentedness counts
But the chance of a challenging and well-paid job is only one side of a successful life in Denmark. It is another matter entirely to offer conditions that encourage foreign workers to stay in the tiny kingdom for an extended period. It is not about fringe benefits, promotion and pay rises, but rather about cinema trips, dinners and friendships, not least for the employee's spouse and children in those cases where the whole family has moved to Denmark. If families are not content, experience shows that foreign workers leave Denmark within a few years.

“It costs about half a million kroner each time you recruit someone to Denmark, so everyone has an interest in making sure that the family settles in properly,” says Charlotte Mark.

More and more companies have realised that the contentedness of staff and their families needs to be safeguarded, and so they have launched a number of initiatives to make it easier for foreign staff and their families to create networks.

Two years ago, Microsoft started a special integration programme to help make Denmark a pleasant experience. Spouses are offered coaching to ease the path to finding a job, and social events are planned to help expand the family's network in Denmark.

“We quickly discovered that it was important to involve spouses. If he or she does not settle in, then the entire family will leave,” says Charlotte Mark.

Diversity is a strength
The Danish language is one of the challenges that foreigners encounter, for example in relation to contact with public sector authorities and in social contexts, so many companies offer Danish language courses.

One of these is toy manufacturer The LEGO Group, which offers twice-weekly Danish tuition. But as HR consultant Anette Klausen points out:

“Lego's corporate language is English, so it is not a requirement that our foreign staff can speak Danish. We also think it is important that society is ready to receive foreign nationals, for instance that the tax office and the bank have people who can speak English and that documents are available in English. Fortunately this is largely the case.”

In the development department, The LEGO Group has recruited a third of its staff outside Denmark's borders for a number of years, and the internationalisation has gradually spread to the rest of the company. Recruitment is carried out in close contact with educational institutions around the world:

“We want to be a company with great diversity, since in our opinion it creates the best conditions for inspired work,” says Anette Klausen.

Jytte Assenholm is personal assistant to The LEGO Group’s foreign staff. She assists when foreign staff need to open a bank account, when the tax authority knocks on the door, or if they need a new place to live:

“We do not want our staff to feel left to fend for themselves. So we have established an Expatriate Club, just as we make living accommodation available to our foreign staff,” says Jytte Assenholm.

Children cycle to school
The LEGO Group is an international brand, just like other major Danish companies such as pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk and shipping concern A.P.Møller-Mærsk, which gives them a head start in the competition for foreign workers. One of the challenges of attracting labour to Denmark is that very few people know much about this small Scandinavian country.

Regarding Denmark's positive attributes, many newcomers mention the low crime rate and high level of safety, which means for example that you can let your children cycle to school. The LEGO Group is headquartered in Billund, a small provincial town, and several foreign staff have noticed the well-developed public transport system.

“Some come from big cities with a ceaseless myriad of people and traffic. Here in Denmark, several have recounted how they are woken by the bus driver if they have fallen asleep when they reach their destination. It impresses them that the driver gives such attention and service” says Jytte Assenholm.

The lack of corruption and the balance between working life and private life are also often on foreign workers' positive list when they assess Denmark's pros and cons. On the other hand, some think that Danes can be difficult to get to know.

“Danes are highly individualistic people, who do not immediately open up to people from other lands. So foreigners must be prepared to venture into many new things and initiate social activities themselves,” says Skip Bowman.

Charlotte Mark from Microsoft agrees. But she thinks it is not difficult for Danes to open up – in most cases it is just a matter of overcoming their shyness:

“I have been contacted by many Danes who would like to help. One wanted to hear whether a couple of the foreign staff would like to sing in the local choir. I am sure there are many out there who are keen to socialise. So it is very important that companies continue to arrange events where newcomers, their families and Danes can meet,” says Charlotte Mark.