Video — Tips to retain migrant workers for employers

This video provides some tips on how to help your new migrants workers to prepare for work and life in a new country through giving them the information they need.

Video — Tips to retain migrant workers for employers
View transcript

Recruiting new staff can be a big undertaking - and it you’re recruiting them from overseas, it will take time and money to fine the skills you need. All new staff required training and support, but migrants face many additional challenges both inside and outside the workplace.

Helping your new migrant staff and their families settle in to work and their new community will help them reach their full potential as your employee, faster.

Be prepared

The key to retaining migrant workers is to prepare for their arrival.

Our checklists can help ready your workplace and prepared your existing staff to welcome your new migrant staff.

Sharing your own knowledge of your local community and Kiwi culture will also be invaluable to them.

Give ongoing support

It can take time for new migrant staff to get used to living, working and communicating in a new country.

Emotions will also change as they settle in. After their initial excitement, some new migrants and their families may begin to feel homesick or unsure about their decision to move.

You can reduce this uncertainty by giving them support and some time to adjust throughout the first year or two of their settlement journey.

Not only will this help them settle in, it’ll form the foundations for better staff retention, productivity and happier workers.

Consider their point of view

Some migrants will find New Zealand workplaces completely different from those in their home country. Some cultures place much more importance on status and rules at work than Kiwis do, or simply have different ways of doing things.

Immigration New Zealand can provide support for you with practical tools, checklists and guides. And we’ve got resources for your migrant staff to help with planning their move here, and understanding New Zealand cultural and workplace differences.

Remember, happy and well-settled migrant staff will make for a happier and more productive workplace.

We’ve got plenty more information to help make retaining migrant staff easier, so check our website for more.