Highly skilled internationals’ well-being and belonging in Finland – a narrative view
HIWE writing series on key results of the project: Part I
In this writing series, HIWE publishes key findings of the project and discusses what they entail for Finnish society and the immigration policy regarding highly skilled internationals. While the articles of the series acknowledge that internationals’ experiences of living, working, and entrepreneuring in Finland are varied, they also highlight problems shared by many. These problems point to a need to make some profound changes in how internationals are viewed in society and how public services aimed at supporting them should be restructured and service practices reformed.
In the first article of the series, we present observations about the well-being of highly skilled internationals in Finland, focusing especially on their experiences of belonging. Belonging is a basic human need and affects people’s well-being in fundamental ways. The article highlights the experience of many internationals that achieving acceptance and belonging in Finnish society is challenging and may vary from situation to situation. The repercussions of such experiences for internationals’ overall well-being are then briefly discussed.
Introduction
In this article, we are interested in how highly skilled internationals experience their well-being in Finnish society.
Our research interest stems from the currently acute debate around the growing need in Western societies for work-based immigration, especially international talent, to respond to the pressing problems of aging population, labor shortage, securing economic growth, and promoting the green transition, among others.
Our starting point is that there is a lack of deeper knowledge and understanding on the well-being of internationals who already reside in the country, which can be considered an important factor in their judgment of whether to stay or leave (Amit and Bar-Levit 2015; Phinney et al. 2001). This is a key question especially for Finland, which is located in the geographical and cultural periphery, has only a short history of wide-scale immigration, and is not widely known among international talent (see Habti & Koikkalainen 2014).
We are especially interested in one dimension of well-being: the sense of belonging (or non-belonging) of highly skilled internationals in groups, networks, and communities which they deem important and impactful for their lives in Finland. By listening to their life stories, we detect how this sense evolves and develops as an element of their everyday lived experience.
We agree with Amit and Bar-Levit’s (2015, 949) argument that in countries which today go to great lengths to attract highly skilled immigrants, such subjective aspects or integration assume great significance, and those who are dissatisfied with their lives in the new country are likely to leave (e.g., Massey & Redstone 2006). We can therefore presume that highly skilled internationals’ sense of belonging and overall experience of well-being play a significant role in their integration process. Our view is that so far both public discussion and research have often overlooked the perspectives of internationals themselves – how they experience the Finnish labor market, society and culture, and what they would need from society in order for them to want to stay in Finland.
The article is based on 61 life-course interviews conducted in the HIWE project with internationals who represent a diversity of backgrounds and professional fields. We interpret the interviews utilising the method of narrative analysis, the point of which is to give space for people’s own subjective experiences and accounts of them. Therefore, when listening to highly skilled internationals’ stories of their lives in Finland, we aim to stay sensitive to their individual situatedness, temporality, and fluidity, avoiding understanding their sense of belonging as a homogeneous experience.
What do we know about belonging and well-being from literature?
In broad terms, well-being can be understood as a positive state experienced by individuals and societies and as a resource for daily life (WHO 2021). Democratic societies, in particular, closely monitor the well-being of their citizens. Reasons for this include that well-being is now seen as an increasingly important factor in states’ competition for international investments and workforce, welfare-related costs have an impact on the states’ labour market and the public economy, and the well-being experienced by citizens – or its decline – may also affect the legitimacy of democracy.
Despite the extent of well-being research already in existence, research focusing on the well-being of migrants is less but has been growing in the last years. Interest in this topic has increased as global mobility has grown and as it has been found to have a significant impact on the economic and social dynamics of states. The economic effects are usually judged positive, social effects more controversial. However, research knowledge on the well-being of highly skilled internationals is still comparatively scarce (Spadavecchia & Yu 2021).
We are particularly interested in how internationals experience their belonging in Finnish society and how these experiences affect their well-being. Belonging refers to the way in which individuals view themselves in relation to others in their society. In positive terms, it is a person’s “relational experience of being accepted by others, of belonging to a valued group as a respected member, of being loved, cared for and supported by significant others” (Honkatukia & Rättilä 2023, 13). Felt belonging is considered an important motivator for many positive emotional and cognitive processes for individuals (Baumeister & Leary 1995). It is often characterised as a feeling of ‘being at home’, which indicates that a person has a strong attachment to significant people, and often to a certain physical place, and that they feel safe.
A general finding of earlier studies is that it is important for migrants to become part of the receiving society and that achieving this goal supports their well-being. Conversely, the feeling of being left outside reflects negatively on immigrants’ subjective well-being and their commitment to stay in the host society (Amit and Bar-Levit 2015; Ndomo 2024; Phinney et al. 2001). As Amit and Bar-Levit (2015, 948) argue, it is important to pay attention to the process of development of this feeling after entering the new society when attempting to understand immigrants’ sense of belonging. The immigrant is often expected to gradually release previous attachments, social identifiers, and even a sense of national commitment to their country of origin by the host society and develop a new sense of local identity and belonging. Such expectations can be difficult for migrants, especially in the beginning, when building social relationships in a new environment is still in progress or if problems arise with it. In studies, lasting and meaningful relationships of attachment have been linked to problems such as anxiety, depression, sadness and loneliness, which weaken migrants’ health, well-being and integration (Baumeister & Leary 1995).
For understanding the belonging of highly skilled internationals, it is important to pay attention to its dynamic quality. Many authors have stressed that belonging is a process continuingly negotiated throughout a person’s lifespan and is defined as an imagined or desired locus of belief and yearning (Probyn 1996, 2015; Sigmon et al. 2002; Duncan & Lambert 2004). Moreover, to Tunçer (2023) belonging is highly intertwined with the dynamic process of boundary formation and maintenance in contemporary societies, closely related to the questions of identity, culture, and social norms, as well as to the social implications of these concepts. In other words, belonging is understood as a non-linear process that changes over time as individuals encounter and are influenced by different places, situations, and relations.
What have we learned from the interviews?
Belonging as a dynamic process
Belonging is a fundamental human need. People are social beings who look for belonging. At the same time, belonging is dynamic and negotiated in interaction with other people. Transnational migration implies a major change in people’s lives; therefore, it involves intensive identity work. When people change their place of living, they meet new people and find themselves in new sociocultural contexts.
Getting comfortable in the new environment and building up social life takes time. However, those processes are not linear. Sometimes, at the early stages of integration, a newcomer may feel welcome, but later the feeling that they belong within a particular community can weaken. For example, in our interviews some interviewees mentioned that the first weeks after they moved to Finland were very exciting: they managed to meet many people who seemed interested in building friendships with them. However, later they found it difficult to build deeper connections with people.
“It just seemed like a very small place and people seemed friendly enough (–) it was shortly after a couple of months of living here where the sort of a honeymoon period ended. That’s when it was a very harsh reality and the harsh isolation that Finland presents to foreigners.” (Edu)
On the other hand, the feeling of belonging can also evolve and get better in time: some of our interviewees had felt unwelcome and lonely in the beginning but had later built meaningful relationships in their work community and other social contexts. When pondering the question if he has felt accepted and welcome in Finland, Emiliano replies:
“If you had asked me that question four months ago, my clear answer and very quick would have been no. Things have been changing a lot, luckily in the last four months especially in the professional aspect and how I’ve been having the feeling now more than in the previous year and a half that I’m actually valued and respected and at least being considered for opportunities. But up until then, it has felt very lonely even when surrounded with people, it has felt very lonely from Finland as an institution especially.”
However, often the positive change in feelings of belonging take place in connection with other internationals. For many, social life revolves around internationals’ own “bubbles”, as they find it difficult to be accepted into the circles of Finnish people.
Being accepted and belonging in Finland was also described in the interviews as varying depending on the situation.
“So yeah, [it] depends. People who know me, I feel really accepted, really loved. But people who don’t know me, I feel rejection depending on where I am.” (Carlos)
“[I]t depends on the person really, it depends on the group of people, it depends on the part of the society, whether I’m seen as myself or someone, I do feel a lot of like a second classer, because I’m an immigrant. I used to feel differently, like when I was an exchange student, I felt that I was interesting because I was a foreigner, and people were taking interest in me, and they wanted to get to know me and understand why I came to Finland. But the more I lived here and the more I didn’t speak Finnish, the more I feel like people are just like, the more, it’s turning more negative in a way. But at times, it’s just, it is also, yeah, yes and no. Very much depends on the situation.” (Aysun)
Belonging at work and in everyday life
In their lifetime, people join multiple communities as needed or desired. However, a person cannot always feel belonging in the community they find themselves involved in. In our interviews, some internationals exposed that they felt valued and supported in some social circles, but at the same time experienced “othering” outside them. Their worst experiences included facing racist remarks from Finns, such as “go back to your home country!”, or even physical assaults such as spitting in the direction of the person. Some interviewees recounted being “ogled” and followed in the supermarkets by personnel as if being suspected of stealing something, because “they do not look like Finns”.
“I have experienced racism enough times when I was outside doing stuff. Now, I’m reluctant to do different activities like going to a bar, trying to meet with other people, stuff like that. One day, I experienced racism on a normal day when I was crossing a street. An old lady started to scream at me to get out of her way, and spat in my direction.” (Bob)
Sometimes the question “where are you from?”, posed out of the blue to internationals, makes them uncomfortable because it emphasises that the person is different, “not from here”. All those instances of open racism or microaggression trigger the feeling of non-belonging, especially if a person encounters them more than once.
The interviews also highlighted the meaning of the workplace as a potentially important place to build deeper connections and the sense of belonging. For some interviewees, especially those who were head-hunted on the global labour market and worked in English-speaking industries, the workplace may have become their main place for developing feelings of belonging.
“I love my work. I was working with international mobility, and so, supporting employees during their international assignments and projects. I was more working on the administrative part, so helping them with contracts and insurances and these kinds of things. But I loved my job, because it was independent (–) but at the same time, I was connected to the teams and everything. So, it was like, I could do my work on my own, and at the same time, we did have team connections. So, that’s why I love my work, because it gives me independence, at the same time, it gives me a sense of belonging to the team.” (Laksmi)
The experiences of Finnish-speaking workplaces were, however, more mixed. For example, Kiran comments that:
“To be very blunt and honest, Finland has this passive racism. Like, you pretend to be nice as long as you are sharing the roof because you are at the same workplace, but the moment you step out, you would not interact or work or mingle with internationals”.
In terms of feeling accepted and belonging, those internationals who had come to Finland as young people and started a family here, or moved to the country with their family, stood out from the interviews. Their experiences in Finland were in many ways more positive than others.
“I still can’t believe how young I was when I came here and knew that I wanted to stay and stayed. (–) Things in the [home country] have changed so much since I lived there, that I don’t see myself as very [citizen of home country] anymore. So, I have my family there, but I think if I ever would move back, I don’t want to, but if I did, I would have severe culture shock. So, I think I’m more, maybe more Finnish or maybe more European (–) I really do enjoy living here and I’ve never considered moving. (–) I find it hard to complain about stuff. Things are pretty good for me.” (Sarah)
Mutual practices of building belonging
Building belonging is a task that internationals need to handle daily, especially during the first years of their stay in Finland. How well they manage, doesn’t solely depend on their efforts and personal features. Belonging is always about both “self” and “other people”, it is a two-way street. Therefore, it is crucially important that people who feel more grounded in the community also make an effort to connect with a new international member of the community. Our interviewees talked about simple practices that helped them to feel accepted and experience belonging. It could be a request to take care of one’s dog, or an invitation to join a discussion or a small trip to the countryside.
“In the first year, one of my friends called me and asked if I could take care of her dogs – to go for a walk or to feed them. And I was super happy. It is when you feel that you can be trusted and people give you responsibilities. You really feel you are part of it”. (Sara)
At the same time, it is important to note that the highly skilled internationals of Finland are not a homogenous group. They come from different parts of the world, have different cultural and professional backgrounds and prior experiences of working. Therefore, the same practices of working and socialising can trigger opposite feelings. For example, one of our interviewees shared: “We have a similar culture and similar sense of humour. Men in my country like drinking beer and watching football. Finnish men like drinking beer and watching ice hockey. It’s not a big jump from one to the other”. At the same time, another interviewee saw huge differences in how people socialise in his country and Finland. “You will not get social connections unless you drink and go to the bars. It’s a difficult task”. In other words, the same practices can be inclusive and help internationals build a sense of belonging, but to others, they can be exclusive. At the same time, when there is a desire to understand each other and to get to know each other better, people can always find space where their interests intersect.
Belonging as an emotional issue
When telling their life stories, the interviewees had to revisit some moments of their lives that evoked emotions. They got excited and angry, joyful and sad, and sometimes even cried. Moreover, the interviewers too sometimes got emotional when they heard the stories and empathised with the speakers. Discussing the issues related to moving far away from home can be full of emotions overall, especially when people talk about their relatives, close friends, and all small things that used to constitute their sense of belongingness. Also, struggles related to moving to Finland – facing misunderstanding among local people, looking for or losing a job, applying for a residence permit, waiting for the decision, and possibly getting rejected – are not easy experiences. All those situations inevitably challenge the sense of belonging of internationals, and make them ask themselves, “Why I am here at all?” In the worst cases, internationals shared that they experienced disappointment, loneliness, struggles with self-worth, and feeling of non-belonging which had caused them depression.
“In my first year in Finland, I had really heavy depression. I lost my religion. I just lost everything in the new country. Well people, none of them smiled. So, I felt like oh, I’m alone, and I don’t have anyone. I felt sad, that kind of thing.” (Devi)
“I was just there in my dark room with no light, crying, sitting on the floor, and I was like, I work hard, I did everything I could, and somehow I am failing.” (Bella)
Such feelings contrast with the initially positive expectations that some talents said they felt (while still being in their home countries) when they heard that they had been accepted to an educational program or got a job in Finland. They recalled the joy that they shared with their families and other close people.
“In May 2014, I received a letter from the university (in Finland) that I was accepted. During my work time at the office, I opened the email and I remember it as yesterday. I just broke down crying out of happiness. And the next day, I told my boss I quit.” (Bob)
At the same time, many internationals said that they were grateful to Finland overall. Even though some of them admitted that it was still difficult for them to find their place in Finnish society, they were happy that their children could have better education and brighter future perspectives in life than they themselves had had. Also, no matter how complicated their stories were, most of the internationals shared heart-warming stories of how different people, sometimes strangers, Finns or other internationals, helped them during difficult times.
“Personal situations have been challenging, like breaking up with my boyfriend and having no place to stay. That was very difficult for me, but my friends made it more easy. Because they were very welcoming, they were very close to me. One colleague went to another town to pick me up with all my stuff. So, things that I was not expecting. It was very surprising to have all this emotional and material support from people when I needed, because when this particular situation happened, I was thinking to go back to my home country because it was it was too much. And I decided not to.” (Sara)
Discussion
The findings presented above show how dynamic a phenomenon belonging is, especially in the case of immigrants. As pointed out earlier, transnational migration means a major change in people’s lives, which entails that they must rebuild their identity, social life, and sense of belonging. The experiences of highly skilled internationals about this vary, but most of the talents we interviewed have succeeded in building belonging to at least some social groups.
Despite this, it can be concluded from the data that most internationals have experienced problems with their sense of belonging. In the interviews, many emotional stories and comments emerged about how they do not feel welcome in Finland. Such experiences inevitably have consequences for people’s well-being. Many of the interviewees had had problems with their physical and mental health for which they had not been able, or dared, to seek help, or they did not know where help was available. However, there is a difference in the well-being of those internationals who had had a support network in Finland, a family or other social circles to lean on, compared to those who lacked such a network.
In Finland, the well-being of highly skilled internationals has not been researched specifically, but there are several studies on the well-being of immigrants in general from recent years (e.g. MoniSuomi 2022). The results show that the well-being of immigrants is in many respects weaker than that of the native population. Our own research findings are in line with earlier studies, although, based on our interviews, the socio-economic status of highly skilled internationals is typically higher compared to many other immigrant groups.
Recently, there has been an active debate about work-based immigration in public, often connected to the restrictions that Petteri Orpo’s government (2023-) is making on immigration policy. Highly skilled migrants have been worried about the current discussion around immigration and feel that they are not truly welcome in Finland. The negative atmosphere in society and the weakening of immigrants’ rights and public services, which partly also apply to highly skilled migrants, cannot help but affect their well-being in some way. If Finland wants to continue to attract and retain highly skilled internationals in the country, setting new restrictions is not the kind of policy it should pursue.
Authors: Tiina Rättilä (University of Eastern Finland), Anna Elkina (University of Turku), Tuuli Pulkkinen (University of Eastern Finland), Piritta Parkkari (University of Eastern Finland)
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