Greenland nurses challenge bonus scheme for Danish recruits

A new scheme offering Danish nurses and doctors a 15 percent salary bonus and free accommodation to work temporarily in Greenland is drawing criticism from permanently employed Greenlandic nurses, DR reports.

“It is so unfair,” said Panninguaq Boassen, a nurse from Nuuk.

The so-called relay scheme takes effect on September 1 and is intended to help address a severe labour shortage in Greenland’s healthcare system. However, the agreement between Greenland and Denmark could mean that temporary Danish staff receive better pay and conditions than their Greenlandic colleagues.

Under the scheme, Danish healthcare workers can travel to Greenland for a limited period and be paid according to a Greenlandic collective agreement. They will also receive a bonus of 15 percent and free accommodation before returning to their Danish jobs.

Greenland has so far relied heavily on private staffing agencies to recruit enough healthcare workers. The new scheme is instead an agreement between the Greenlandic and Danish authorities.

Navarrana Johnsen, chair of the nurses’ union PK, said she recognised the urgent need to attract staff to Greenland but was concerned about the possible consequences.

“It can create a feeling of unfairness between permanently employed nurses and relay nurses,” she said.

The scheme has sparked debate in Greenland, and a petition opposing it has been launched on social media.

Unclear pay difference

The exact difference in pay and conditions between temporary Danish staff and permanently employed Greenlandic workers remains unclear. Greenland’s healthcare service was unable to provide DR News with specific calculations of the difference in kroner.

PK expects relay nurses to receive better conditions than permanently employed nurses.

Anne Wangenheim, Greenland’s minister for health, said she understood the concerns of permanently employed nurses. She stressed that they also receive bonuses and allowances intended to retain them in their jobs, which temporary staff under the scheme will not receive.

However, Wangenheim would not rule out the possibility that temporary Danish healthcare workers could still receive more than permanently employed Greenlandic workers, despite the retention bonuses.

Asked whether she could guarantee that no temporary worker receiving a bonus and free accommodation would earn more than a permanently employed worker doing the same job, Wangenheim replied: “I cannot guarantee that.”

Cheaper than agency staff

Wangenheim said the new scheme was nevertheless preferable to expensive staffing-agency arrangements, under which temporary nurses are paid even more. The scheme may not eliminate the difference, she said, but it will reduce it.

Spending on temporary staff in Greenland’s healthcare system rose from 22 million kroner in 2020 to 72 million kroner in 2025. Greenland’s healthcare service told DR that a nurse employed through a staffing agency has an average annual salary, including pension, of 1.45 million kroner.

The bonus and accommodation under the new scheme will be paid by the Danish regions rather than Greenland’s self-government treasury, Wangenheim said. The bonus conditions for Danish healthcare workers were negotiated by employers and unions in Denmark.

Torben M. Andersen, a professor of economics and chair of Greenland’s Economic Council, said more clarity was needed about the pay levels.

“There can be many reasons for pay differences, and it is therefore also important to analyse the causes and background of such differences. The raw salary data cannot stand alone,” he said.

Welcoming Danish colleagues

Some departments at Queen Ingrid’s Hospital in Nuuk have very few permanently employed workers, with the rest of the staff made up of temporary workers from elsewhere.

Boassen, who has worked as a nurse for eight years, said she was happy to work with her Danish colleagues.

“I have absolutely nothing against Denmark or Danes. We need them,” she said.

Her colleague Panninguaq Poulsen, a newly qualified Arctic nurse from Nuuk, agreed. Temporary workers have considerable skills, she said, but also lack knowledge that local staff possess.

“Residents in Greenland who are admitted to hospital or visit a doctor depend on us. We know our own culture and our own body language, the non-verbal aspects. Misunderstandings can quickly arise if we are not there,” Poulsen said.