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 2nd or 3rd 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.
