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)
