82

Business

News in Digest: Employers getting it right

TheCopenhagenPost
December 10th, 2016


This article is more than 8 years old.

Danish companies brilliant at fostering talent and nurturing happy workers

Danish companies are switched on to what makes employees tick

When it comes to developing, investing in, attracting and retaining talent, Denmark is among the very best in the world, according to the 2016 IMD World Talent Report.

Ranking 61 nations according to their ability to foster talent, the report ranked Denmark second overall, behind only Switzerland – the same position as last year for the Danes.

“Among other reasons, it’s down to Danish companies focusing on attracting and retaining talent and employee motivation being high,” said Charlotte Rønhof, a deputy director at Dansk Industri, the confederation of Danish industry.

Can’t spank the Swiss
The ranking is based on scores in three central areas: Investment & Development, Appeal, and Readiness. Denmark ranked first for I&D, third for Readiness and 11th for Appeal (in which the cost of living was a sizeable detractor).

Since 2007, Denmark has never been ranked below third in the IMD World Talent Report, but it has been unable to wrestle first place away from the Swiss during that time.

Belgium came third, and Sweden and the Netherlands made up the top five. Finland, Norway, Austria, Luxembourg and China Hong Kong completed the top ten.

Happy workers
Perhaps understandably, Denmark has the happiest workers in the world, according to the latest Universum Global Workforce Happiness Index. Denmark was followed by Norway, Costa Rica, Sweden and Austria in the rankings.

The study asked 200,000 professionals in 57 countries about their satisfaction with their job, willingness to recommend their employer to others and likelihood of switching jobs in the near future.

“Employee happiness is crucial for retaining good talent as well as having a motivated workforce that delivers great results and continuously innovates,” said Daniel Eckert, the research project manager at Universum.

“If the young professionals in a market show low levels of discontent, then that is a good sign for the economy as whole.”

Meanwhile, the University of Copenhagen (KU) and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) have both been ranked among the top 100 universities in the world for delivering work-ready graduates by Times Higher Education.

KU moved up one spot to 51st, while DTU took a massive leap from 112th to 76th this year. KU was ranked the top Nordic university, followed by Stockholm (62), Helsinki (73), DTU and Lund (78). (CPH POST)


Share

Most popular

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive The Daily Post

















Latest Podcast

A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”