Originally published by Tristan Fender in The Copenhagen Post on December 2, 2025.

BELONG is attracting strong interest from Danish companies that want a clearer understanding of why international employees often struggle with wellbeing, belonging and long-term attachment to their workplaces.

The project gives companies practical tools to measure inclusion, strengthen onboarding and improve cross-cultural collaboration. Its rapid uptake comes at a moment when Denmark is finding it increasingly difficult to retain foreign workers, even as employers depend on them to fill roles they cannot cover domestically.

A retention problem hiding in plain sight
The Expat Survey 2025 by Copenhagen Capacity shows that nearly half of internationals in the Capital Region leave within five years, a departure rate that has risen over the last decade. This happens despite high personal satisfaction. Ninety-two percent describe their stay in Denmark as positive, yet many still plan to leave early. The workplace appears to be a decisive factor in these choices.

The internationals most likely to shorten their stay, labelled the Discontent, represent 7.7 percent of respondents living in Denmark. Their most common explanation is that they do not feel included at work.

Difficulty finding a job, challenges building friendships with Danes and limited social connections strengthen that trend. Meanwhile, the 43 percent who plan to stay longer than expected point to job stability, their children’s wellbeing and feeling included at work as the strongest reasons for remaining. The same factors can therefore either anchor people or encourage them to leave.

This poses a real challenge for Danish employers. Foreign workers contributed more than 361 billion DKK to the economy and filled about 330,000 full-time positions in the first half of 2025. Losing international employees early means losing skills that are already in short supply.

What BELONG offers workplaces
BELONG was created to help companies approach these challenges in a structured way. It is operated by Copenhagen Capacity with Dansk Industri, Erhverv Aarhus and Human House, and financed by Velliv Foreningen and the project seeks to develop an Inclusion Barometer that helps workplaces assess how well they support international staff. Companies also receive guidance on onboarding, leadership training and psychological work environment improvements.

The project targets the issues internationals identify most frequently: patchy onboarding, unclear expectations, cultural misunderstandings and social isolation. Companies may lack a systematic way of addressing these areas, and BELONG gives them a framework to do so.

It focuses on wellbeing, psychological safety and mental health in the workplace. Through company meetings, wellbeing measurements, focus groups and workshops, its psychologists and intercultural specialists help organisations understand their challenges and test concrete tools.


How companies are responding
Several workplaces have already completed the first round of BELONG and describe clear changes in their internal practices.
At Dynaudio, participation led the company to rethink how newcomers are supported. HR Business Partner Marc Wacker says the project inspired them to establish an internal group of international colleagues who guide new hires through their first weeks.

“Being part of BELONG has inspired us to create an internal ambassador corps of international employees who can act as role models and guides when we hire new colleagues from abroad,” he says. Wacker explains that the goal is to create an atmosphere where international employees feel welcome and included from the start.

PSQR, which employs a significant share of international specialists, used BELONG to refine its onboarding practices. COO Danny Jonstrup Krøger says the programme gave them concrete next steps. “The BELONG project has given us practical tools to strengthen our approach and help our international employees feel at home, thrive and choose to stay with us,” he says.

SNIPR Biome also highlights the project’s practical influence. Head of People and Organisation Julie Tranberg Rasmussen says it renewed attention to how international colleagues experience their first months. “It has been both inspiring and valuable to be part of BELONG. It renewed our focus on how we can more consciously ensure inclusion, especially for our international employees. We have gained useful material that we can apply directly in our recruitment and onboarding processes,” she says.

Vertica joined to better understand how international employees navigate daily collaboration in a flat organisational structure. “We want to create a work environment where every employee thrives and feels confident in their tasks. We want to strengthen our understanding of how we support better inclusion in everyday work, both linguistically and culturally,” says Helle Markmann.


What Copenhagen Capacity is seeing behind the scenes
For Copenhagen Capacity, which coordinates BELONG, the surge in company interest is striking. Project manager Ditte Meincke says many businesses underestimate how challenging retention actually is.

“It has been a big learning for us that even companies with many initiatives still find retention difficult. They want to improve, but it is not easy for them. Inclusion is a subjective feeling, and that makes it hard to work with. Feeling included is emotional, not a checklist, and that is why we train leaders to understand how to create that feeling in their teams.”

She adds that most participating companies have chosen to focus on onboarding, a process that has unexpectedly improved the working environment for Danish employees as well. Meincke says BELONG often leads companies to streamline their onboarding materials, introduce buddy systems and strengthen communication across cultures.

She also notes a shift in the labour market that is visible across the companies seeking help. “We can really feel the demand right now. It has become harder for companies to attract internationals, so they are extremely motivated to keep the people they already have. You can see it in our waiting list. Companies are lining up because they know retention is becoming just as important as recruitment,” she said.

A political climate moving in a different direction
The strong company interest stands in contrast to the broader national debate. Political discussions around immigration, residency and citizenship continue to focus on limiting inflows and tightening requirements. These shifts shape internationals’ lives and fuel uncertainty about whether they are welcome in Denmark.

Yet the survey shows that political restrictions are not the main factors pushing internationals out. Many departures relate to job access, partner employment, and social integration. More than half of respondents say that meeting Danes is difficult and that more structured opportunities for social contact would have improved their experience.

A workplace-led shift
BELONG does not change national policy, but it shows where progress is currently taking place. While the political climate grows more restrictive, many workplaces are moving in the opposite direction. Companies are investing in inclusion because they want to
keep their talent. Their ability to function depends on international talent.

For Denmark, the challenge is about attracting people and making sure they can imagine staying. The work being done inside these companies suggests that the future of retention will depend as much on workplace culture as it does on national legislation.