Denmark must be able to attract foreign labour
Denmark needs to be able to attract qualified labour from abroad, but complicated regulations make it difficult for foreigners to enter the country. In an article that appeared in Berlingske Tidende, Managing Director Peter Høyer called for politicians to drop the endless bureaucracy involved in the immigration process.
According to DI, the Confederation of Danish Industry, the lack of qualified labour was the main reason that Denmark lost orders worth DKK 32 billion in the period 2005-2007. Attracting highly educated workers has long been at the top of the political agenda, but not least the extensive bureaucracy represents a sizeable obstacle for foreigners wishing to come to Denmark.
For many years, we at Scandia Housing have experienced that providing better service is the way forward. Material must of course be available in different languages so that it is easy for foreigners to read, and there must always be help at hand for customers who arrive in Denmark and are not familiar with local conditions and legislation. Our website has of course been translated into no less than four languages, and our employees speak a wide range of foreign languages to ensure that we have the best tools in place to help our tenants.
Unfortunately, we are moving in the wrong direction. The Danish government has recently proposed that companies should no longer be able to rent properties for their foreign employees under the Danish Commercial Lease Act. This will mean a significant reduction of the freedom of contract between owner and tenant, and it will no longer be possible to enter into ”full service” contracts that often include laundry service, furnishing, cleaning and babysitting. The result will be that limits will be put on the comprehensive service that many foreign employees require.
This is why Peter Høyer in his article calls on politicians to follow expert advice and to make it easier for foreigners to live to Denmark.
”If we go about things in such a way that we tell our foreign visitors to ‘get lost’ instead of ‘yes we can’, we will be committing a blunder here in Denmark and will end up paying a high price for it,” declares Peter Høyer.
Read the whole article here