What can you do to retain international employees for longer?

All About Expats Team · 03 Aug 2026

You retain international employees longer by removing friction from day one: fast, people-first onboarding, predictable HR and immigration processes, an inclusive team culture, and transparency about growth and compensation. This reduces stress and increases a sense of future prospects, making departure after 12 to 24 months less likely.

This is especially true for Highly Skilled Migrants, who have to arrange not only a new job but also a new country, new rules, and practical matters. If you design that overall experience well, engagement increases and turnover decreases.

Below, you’ll find concrete actions per question that you can apply immediately.

Why do international employees often leave within 12–24 months?

International employees often leave within 12 to 24 months because the combined impact of workload, practical relocation stress, and uncertainty about future prospects becomes too much. For Highly Skilled Migrants, dependence on procedures, housing, and partner or family integration also plays a role, which means a more attractive offer in another country wins out sooner.

In practice, you usually see a few recurring causes:

Mismatch in expectations about the role, autonomy, team dynamics, or growth path
Practical friction such as housing searches, registration appointments, banking, and insurance taking too long
Social isolation due to language, limited connection within the team, or little community outside work
Uncertainty about stability around contract duration, renewal, or what happens in case of a role change
Lack of recognition of international experience in job levels and compensation

You can prevent this by picking up signals early. For example, schedule a retention check-in in months 1, 3, 6, and 12 with fixed questions about work, wellbeing, practical matters, and future plans.

How do you set up onboarding so international employees settle in faster?

You set up onboarding for international employees by providing structured support for both work and life in the Netherlands during the first 30, 60, and 90 days. Strong onboarding for Highly Skilled Migrants combines clear role expectations, a buddy system, and a practical arrival checklist, so someone becomes productive sooner and feels at home faster.

Use an onboarding plan that doesn’t just tick off HR tasks, but also accelerates integration:

Before the start date: send a clear role description, team structure, first-week agenda, and who to contact for what
Week 1: arrange access, tooling, security, and schedule introductions with stakeholders
Weeks 2 to 4: have the person deliver a first deliverable with fast feedback
Months 2 to 3: discuss development, expectations, and any obstacles

Also create one central place where all practical information is available, such as how to schedule appointments, which documents are needed, and what to expect for local registrations. This helps you work less ad hoc and prevents the same questions from coming up repeatedly.

Which HR and immigration processes reduce stress and increase retention?

HR and immigration processes reduce stress and increase retention when they are predictable, timely, and compliant. For Highly Skilled Migrants, this means tightly planning the residence permit application with the IND, reporting changes quickly, and actively guiding employees through steps such as municipal matters and health insurance. Less uncertainty creates more peace of mind and stronger commitment.

Set up your processes so employees know what to expect:

Clear timeline with milestones: application, decision, travel planning, post-arrival appointments
Document check in advance so you don’t lose time due to missing items
Dedicated point of contact for questions about contract, payroll, leave, and practical administrative matters
Change process for role, salary, hours, or location to ensure compliance remains in place

Also pay attention to the obligations related to recognized sponsorship. As a recognized sponsor, you have four obligations: the duty to report, the duty to provide information, the duty to keep records, and the duty of care. If you organize these structurally, you avoid audit stress and give employees confidence that everything is properly arranged.

Practical point for arrival: municipal registration and collecting the residence document from the IND both need to happen soon after arrival, but the order differs by situation and municipality. Planning this in advance prevents unnecessary waiting time and uncertainty.

How do you build an inclusive work culture that keeps international teams connected?

You build an inclusive work culture by structuring communication, decision-making, and collaboration so international employees can participate on equal footing. For Highly Skilled Migrants, this works best when you make it explicit how you give feedback, how meetings run, and which norms apply. That increases psychological safety and team cohesion.

Concretely, you can do this with a few habits that cost little but have a big impact:

Agree on a working language and use it consistently in meetings, documentation, and informal updates
Meeting hygiene: agenda in advance, summarize decisions, assign action items
Buddy or mentor who also helps with unwritten rules, not just content
Team rituals that aren’t built around language jokes or local references, but around shared goals
Manager training in intercultural communication and recognizing subtle signals

Make inclusion measurable in behavior. In 1:1 conversations, for example, ask: “When did you feel excluded in the past month?” and “What do you need to participate more easily?” That produces action points you can act on immediately.

How do you make growth and compensation transparent for international employees?

You make growth and compensation transparent by explicitly describing job levels, evaluation criteria, and salary components, and applying them consistently. This is especially helpful for Highly Skilled Migrants because they often don’t know how Dutch employment conditions, evaluations, and promotions work. Transparency prevents disappointment and makes staying longer more attractive.

Use a simple framework that everyone can understand:

Leveling: describe responsibilities, impact, and example behaviors per level
Evaluation: explain how performance is measured and when evaluations take place
Compensation: break down base salary, variable pay, on-call, mobility, pension, and other benefits
Development: create a learning path with skills, projects, and coaching

If someone works under the highly skilled migrant scheme, salary also plays a compliance role. Add nuance and communicate clearly which threshold applies. As of 1 January 2026, the following IND thresholds apply: highly skilled migrant ≥ 30 years: € 5.942, highly skilled migrant < 30 years: € 4.357, orientation year scheme: € 3.122. Always explain which category applies to your employee and what happens in case of a promotion, change in hours, or contract renewal.

How All About Expats helps you retain international employees for longer

We help you retain international employees for longer by tightly organizing the practical and compliance-driven parts of working and relocating to the Netherlands, so employees experience less stress and you can offer predictability. We work exclusively via the highly skilled migrant route with a residence permit application through the IND, and combine that with support around employment, payroll, and relocation.

Specifically, you can come to us for:

Immigration support within the highly skilled migrant scheme, including planning, document checks, and process guidance
Recognized sponsorship as part of the solution, so you don’t have to organize everything yourself
Back office and payroll aligned with international situations and compliance requirements
Relocation support that helps with arrival steps and reduces practical friction

If you’d like to discuss your retention approach for Highly Skilled Migrants or the setup of immigration processes for employers, you can get in touch via contact or first explore the options at immigration for employers.