Information for Employers

Information for Employers:

Prepared For the Workforce

                  Refugees are eager to enter your workplace and are equally prepared. Refugees arrive in America with incredible previous work experience. No matter the roles and jobs refugees possessed in their home nation, they each share valuable knowledge learned from their journey as a refugee. In their home nations, they have faced adversity and successfully overcame their challenges. They know what it is like to be challenged, and more importantly understand the work required and process by which one can overcoming these obstacles. Refugees tackle these problems with their fellow countrymen. They understand the value of teamwork, and have already had extensive practice working in groups toward a common goal. Beyond their struggles derived from persecution, refugees often come to America with valuable skills practiced in their homeland. These skills are numerous and include knowledge in fields such as information technology, healthcare, hospitality and food production. While in refugee camps individuals are exposed to a variety of beneficial classes including English. These classes enable most refugees to arrive in America with a firm grasp of the English language and the ability to communicate with customers. 

                  When refugees arrive in America, they are highly motivated to begin a new life for their family. Refugees are incredibly hard workers, and are willing to do whatever it takes to make their long journey to America a success. Because of this, they are extremely dependable and reliable workers. The African Community Center (ACC) helps to provide the refugees with everything else they need to successfully enter the workforce. Refugees are fully documented as legal residents of Colorado, meaning they are already authorized to work in the United States. We only refer individuals who have proven themselves capable of fitting your job criteria and hiring needs. Refugees are tested thoroughly at the ACC to show their strengths and weaknesses and to identify jobs the refugee can excel at. The ACC helps to provide further training for refugees to complete their knowledge on specific industries, including food service, retail and customer service, and janitorial cleaning. We continue our assistance even after the refugee is successfully hired. Our staff is always available to provide support to your business, including interpretation, cross-cultural support and other services.

Economic and Financial Benefits of Refugees

Hiring refugees can benefit your company in numerous ways, including tax cuts and stimulating growth. Hiring a refugee could exempt you from a 6.2% share of social security tax on wages paid, as well as a general business tax credit of 6.2% on wages paid to employees retained for at least 52 consecutive weeks. Refugees have the potential to contribute largely to a business and local economic growth, primarily through economic stimulus that may include, but is not limited to “the local purchase of food, non-food items, shelter materials by agencies supplying relief items, disbursements made by aid workers, the assets brought by refugees themselves, as well as employment and income accrued to local population, directly or indirectly, through assistance projects for refugee areas” (UNHCR). When refugees enter the labor force, they begin to directly compete with local citizens for scarce resources. This healthy competition can cause an increase in demand for food and other commodities that will boost local economic activity (UNHCR). Not only have refugees proven to enhance the skill level and overall diversity of a country, but also they have been known to foster innovation and flexibility. In Australia, five of the eight billionaires are either 2^nd or 3^rd generation refugees (Business Review). In 2006, incoming refugees accounted for $2.815 billion of overall GDP for Australia and $3.84 billion for the United Kingdom (CRR). The majority of refugees entering a first-world country are equipped with a determination to succeed, learn, and work hard. This mentality contributes to the refugees’ entrepreneurial tendencies, which translates to greater economic output. Refugees can also potentially extend business and industrial networks to other investment links, both regional and global, through connections to their homeland.

Below is a summarized list of some of the positive effects refugees can have on a businesses and local economies:

- Drive expansion of output

- Increase domestic demand

- Provide a skilled and flexible workforce

- Foster entrepreneurship

- Encourage innovation and technological transfer

- Develop trade links and international integration

- Support change and challenge rigidities

- Improve the value and return on capital

- Expand business and job opportunities

- Spread the costs of overhead requirements

- Through a growing economy, encourage the purchase of more modern, technologically advanced equipment

Social Benefits of Hiring Refugees

                  Hiring a refugee to be employed in your business is a mutually favorable decision, benefiting both the employer and the employee. One of the largest benefits of hiring a refugee for your business is the social aspects that are attached to their presence in the workplace. Eager to rebuild their lives in their new home in America, refugees often maintain a very high level of work ethic, and are incredibly driven at any task they are given to work. With a high desire to succeed, refugees are very determined workers, and will do their hardest to make themselves, and in turn your own business as successful as possible. Along with having incredibly devoted and hard workers, hiring refugees to your workplace will add a high level of diversity to your business.  Not only will they bring a different culture and idea set into the workplace, but they will also provide a very crucially important function that many businesses today are lacking, a multilingual employee. Coming from a variety of different countries, refugees will already be fluent in one or more languages other than English. This will allow your business to easily interact with foreign customers, who might not easily understand English, and having an employee fluent in their native language will allow for an ease of communication and overall a better experience for the customer. Finally, many refugees are looking to immerse themselves in American culture, and will not only be open to doing this in their workplace, but also sharing their own native cultures as well, providing a very diverse and open business environment.

How to Work with Refugees: Suggestions and Concerns Addressed

                  Regarding the process of working with refugees in the workplace, Chef Michael Duffy, Executive Chef at the Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management, offers salient advice: “People are people; it’s pretty simple.” The reality is that the process behind hiring a refugee is similar to the process behind hiring any other employee, as is the process of training and executing tasks. As Chef Duffy notes, “They are very dedicated people. They’re very hard-working and they’re eager to learn, and that eagerness is a tool that you don’t find that often.” The following questions and answers provide valuable insights into the nuts-and-bolts of working with refugees.

Will communication be difficult?

                  Refugees speak English to varying degrees of fluency, so the most correct answer to this question is that it depends. Most refugees are attending or have attended English classes in their lives, so conversations progress normally, or require only slightly more patience from both parties involved. Hands-on teaching methods are quite effective for training individuals with less English skills. The ACC offers interpretation services any time, completely free of charge.

                  Mr. David Montes, a member of the Human Resources Department at Welby Gardens, found another possible situation: “We hired a couple of refugees that speak English well as supervisors, so when new refugees come, the supervisors can show them what to do.”

Are refugees legal to work in the U.S.?

Yes. Refugees are an internationally-protected class of people, and have full authorization to work in the United States. An ACC Employment Specialist will ensure that any refugees hired through the ACC have the appropriate employment documentation.

Can refugees provide legitimate work references?

While refugees can provide valid work references, the ability of an American employer to reach that reference is a limiting factor. In many cases, the potential employer simply cannot contact the refugee’s past employers. Paula Veith, Benefits Director at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Denver, CO, shared this insight regarding the issue: “You know it’s difficult to call employers from, say, Bhutan, so we had to get creative. We had to rely on the caseworkers to know that a person is reliable and is dedicated to showing up on time and then just go with those opinions.” Indeed, an ACC Employment Specialist often offers a more substantial reference than a previous employer, because the ACC employee has spent more time working one-on-one with that individual, and has experience watching refugees grow into new careers.

Will cultural divides be an issue?

                  While cultural differences can initially require more patience in the training process, they ultimately add to the workplace. As Ms. Veith notes, “It enriches our culture here at the Hyatt to have people from all around the world.” Diversity brings new perspectives, ideas, and solutions into the place of work.