Companies that hire refugees will reap the benefits – but ‘recruit as usual’ isn’t enough

“If it wasn’t for Pret, I wouldn’t have been able to have a house, apply for university, to travel, to make memories, to even think about having a family here in the UK. I call the UK my home and that is all because of Pret.”

I was moved hearing Moe describe the impact on his life of getting a job, and how it fostered a new sense of dignity and belonging.

Seven years after he fled persecution in his home country, Moe has risen through the ranks at Pret, from a position on the shop floor to the company’s head office.

To me, his story perfectly showcases the power of work to allow refugees to rebuild their lives.

We often think of refugees as people who need a handout, and this is why 20 June – World Refugee Day – is still so critical.

Facts and figures on World Refugee Day

World Refugee Day celebrates the contribution and resilience of refugees around the globe, and helps us remember that refugees are people who through their culture, experience, ingenuity, and determination have so much to bring to our countries and communities.

Yet UNHCR’s most recent report highlights another increase in the number of refugees around the world – up to 43 million, the latest in a series of inexorable increases over the last decade.

The crises driving this increase – Afghanistan, Burma, Syria, Ukraine, and Venezuela – are showing no sign of resolution, and it’s likely that this number will continue to go up in years to come.

These rising numbers, combined with the increased polarization of the immigration debate, is overshadowing another critical problem.

In the UK alone, refugees that are legally in the country and eligible for work, are around 30% less likely to be employed than people born in the UK.

This is a stark statistic, especially in light of the labor shortages in sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, and hospitality that are continuing to plague the British and other European economies.

The European public agrees, regardless of their political leanings, that it is a good thing for refugees that are already in the country to work, so they can provide for themselves and their families, pay taxes, build community, and learn the local culture and customs.

A Tent Partnership for Refugees (Tent) study has shown that 62% consumers who identify as progressive are more likely to buy from a company hiring refugees (vs only 9% who say they are less likely to do so).

At the same time, 42% of consumers identifying as conservative say they are more likely to buy from a company hiring refugees (vs 17% who say they are less likely to do so).

However, getting a job is much harder than it looks.

Let’s turn back to Moe for a moment – as well as facing homelessness and the hurdles of the UK’s complex asylum system, his professional experiences back in his home country were overlooked by UK employers.

He didn’t speak English fluently yet, and he didn’t have a social circle that could connect or recommend him to job opportunities.

He had gaps in his CV as a result of the journey fleeing his country, which made him less appealing on paper to employers.

But if we flip Moe’s journey on its head, we start to see a different story. He successfully brought himself to safety overcoming unimaginable hardships. He navigated the UK’s complex asylum system.

He learned English.

He sought out a job and, through sheer perseverance and hard work, climbed through the ranks.

What employer wouldn’t want Moe in its workforce?

A job is not just good for refugees, but for the whole of society

At the Tent Partnership for Refugees – a network of over 400 companies committed to helping refugees find work – we fundamentally believe that employment is a long-term, sustainable way to help refugees integrate into their host communities.

A job is not just good for refugees – it’s good for our employers and our economies too.

Economic modeling developed by the London School of Economics for the Commission on the Integration of Refugees in the UK found that supporting asylum seekers and refugees into work would deliver a net economic benefit of at least £1.2bn within five years.

While there are of course policies and investments national governments can make to pave the way for refugees’ economic integration, employers have an absolutely critical role to play.

It’s perhaps understandable how a HR team might have unwittingly discarded or overlooked Moe’s CV in favor of other candidates.

However, there are measures that can be put in place to level the playing field, and ensure refugees are applying and are standing a fair chance of being considered for a job.

Sensitizing and training HR teams is the first step in the process.

Because refugees are often unaware of how the job market works or the etiquette around applying for jobs in their new host countries, employers need to take extra steps to ensure they are actively applying for these roles.

When refugees apply, more hurdles stand in the way.

For example, companies often set the level of language proficiency at a level that is necessary to communicate in a job interview – but that same level may not necessarily be required to successfully perform the job.

At Tent, we work with employers to overcome challenges just like these and more.

For example, we might advise a company to work with non-profits or other organizations to build a pipeline of refugee talent that can apply for their open roles.

We offer trainings on how to make the hiring process more inclusive of refugees’ unique set of challenges; or we might advise companies to set up buddy or mentoring programs so that, when a refugee successfully lands a job, they are able to navigate their new workplace successfully.

While everything we do is free of charge for employers, we are aware that these changes require an upfront investment.

It’s critical that companies are intentional about hiring refugees – without this intentionality, they will not be successful.

What we have seen, time and time again, is that these investments pay back many times over – our studies have shown that refugees stay at companies longer, companies hiring refugees are more attractive employers and they drive consumer loyalty.

Success stories

There are dozens of success stories from companies who have taken this journey with us.

Marriott International has hired over 1,400 refugees across dozens of hotels in Europe including the UK, Poland, and Germany through a dedicated refugee hiring program, including housekeepers, porters, and many specialist roles from accountants to engineers.

The company created an employee site in multiple languages, trained their hiring managers and worked with its management teams across Europe to invest in and appoint dedicated refugee hiring champions tasked with creating connections with local partners and communities.

In the UK, IKEA has for several years worked with local partners to develop a “retail basics” training course followed by paid placement, with the support of a buddy and access to employment benefits including language support.

IKEA is scaling this to become a national program with split responsibility across HR and DEIB teams, and is currently looking at how they can open up more highly skilled and senior level positions to refugees.

As more and more businesses join this movement and experience the benefits of a more diverse, resilient, and motivated workforce, this will translate into far more inclusive workplaces for all employees.

Moe’s story could be that of all refugees who are actively seeking a job today. What will you do to ensure your company is one that includes and champions refugee talent?