The annual Business Day, “Attracting and Retaining Foreign Skilled Workers,” took place this year on June 18, 2026, in Stendal. The Business Day is an event organized by the Network for a Welcoming Culture and Skilled Worker Recruitment and was hosted by the WelcomeCenter Saxony-Anhalt in collaboration with the Stendal District. About 50 regional companies and network partners gathered at the district administration office to discuss how to attract skilled workers from abroad and integrate them successfully over the long term.
Mathias Schönenberger from the Magdeburg Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) moderated the event. Following a welcome address by District Administrator Patrick Puhlmann, Dr. Per Kropp from the Institute for Employment Research presented current data and facts on the skilled workforce situation in the Stendal district and the region. Among other things, he showed that employment growth in Saxony-Anhalt is already being driven by immigrants.
This was followed by an interview with Ingo Buchali, who, as an employee of the district’s Foreigners’ Registration Office, serves as a liaison and guide between companies and immigrants. He emphasized that the Foreigners’ Registration Office is readily available to companies with relevant inquiries. In the subsequent company discussion, Annett Oelicker from the car dealership Heinrich ROSIER GmbH reported on the company’s experiences over the years with employing foreign skilled workers. She highlighted the great importance of language acquisition, especially for long-term integration. Burghard Bannier from the VIETHOGA project subsequently underscored this point once again. In conversation with him, the focus was on the question of what concrete opportunities exist for finding and recruiting skilled workers abroad.
The second part of the event was dedicated to an open exchange among participants. At the “Market of Opportunities”—which covered topics such as recruitment, language, training, and a welcoming culture—interested companies engaged in discussions with experts from consulting agencies, educational institutions, government agencies, and other companies.
