If you really do fail to see why Denmark is dependent on highly skilled expats to secure and create growth and maintain its reputation for innovation, just follow this simple 5-step guide and rest assured, Denmark will rapidly become an expat-free zone.
Make them feel unwelcome
Do nothing whatsoever to make newcomers feel welcome and appreciated. Do not write them a welcoming letter or bother to show up at the airport to greet them, and never under any circumstances involve a relocation agent.
Keep them in the dark
Never offer them any information about local culture or help them if they have difficulty settling in. Culture impacts on practically every aspect of social life. Understanding and reflecting on own and host culture is crucial if we are to accept and appreciate a new culture. But whatever you do, keep your expats in the dark about this. Provide absolutely no training or preparation related to culture shock or the transition processes.
Laugh out loud when they try to speak Danish
First of all, never offer them language lessons. Without at least some Danish, no one will ever integrate or become part of Danish society. When expats try to speak our language, please do your utmost to make fun of their pronunciation, pretend not to understand what they say and laugh out loud whenever the opportunity offers itself. Being ridiculed is so demotivating that they will soon stop trying.
No activities for spouses
Make no effort to acknowledge the existence of expats’ spouses and families. They are not part of your company, so why should you care two hoots about them? Research shows quite clearly that the wellbeing of spouses and children is key when it comes to retaining expats, so do your utmost to ignore the fact that they are part of the ‘package’. Make sure not to offer them any help with learning the Danish language or getting acquainted with Danish culture. Do your best to make sure not to help spouses enter the Danish job market. Forget all about them and let them get on with their own lives.
Never invite them over
Expats often say that getting to know Danes is not easy. They feel that Danes prefer to stick to their existing networks and that it is hard to “penetrate the friendship zone”. Let us keep it that way. Do not even consider asking your new colleague if he and his family would like to come over one Sunday afternoon, never ask your new colleague if he needs any help, never ask questions or show any genuine interest in getting to know your colleague better. Just go home every day and mind your own business. It was their choice to come here in the first place, and they are sure to have plenty of friends among the other expats.
As you can see from the above it is quite easy to create an atmosphere in which expats will feel unwelcome, unappreciated, ridiculed and isolated. Retaining people is bound to be difficult if all the experiences they ever get of a country and its lifestyle are negative.
It really does not need to be that difficult to turn the above five-step guide upside down, to extend a welcoming hand and start realising how easy it is to retain people if they feel welcome, if they are given tools to understand the culture they want to become part of. We can easily help them to integrate by providing language lessons, showing a genuine interest in them and helping them to take part in social events and to get to know Danes. If we want to, that is.
Whether the expats stay or go is up to you and me.
