Benefits of hiring refugees

Hiring refugees is not just a good way to fulfil your CSR goals: it brings long-term positive outcomes for your business. Employing refugees means lower turnover rates and at least one added source of future recruitment (Tent & FPI, 2018). These offsets any costs of integrating that you might incur.

Refugee employees score higher retention rates:

Research shows that on average, refugee employees have up to 15% higher retention rate compared to non-refugee employees. For example, when looking at the manufacturing sector in the US, the average annual turnover rate for refugee workforce is only 4% whilst the sector’s average score is 11%.

Refugee employees have a reputation for being highly reliable, hard-working and loyal. 80% of companies who have employed refugees are satisfied with their work. 

A new pool of talent and access to new markets:

Data shows that members of the same ethnic group have tendency to look for jobs at the same company. If your business opens its doors to refugees and support their integration into your workforce, it’ll most likely help you gain access to candidates from their community as well. It might also open opportunities for recruitment from other refugee groups. 

Hiring from a diverse pool of talent will give your business insights into previously un-explored consumer groups. This can help with expansion of your products and services, both domestically and abroad.

Finally, higher diversity of management team leads to higher innovation revenue and better financial performance (companies with higher diversity score reported 19% higher innovation revenue vs those with below diversity score). In the US, workers with immigration background are twice as likely to patent than native citizens.

Improved leadership and communication skills:

Managing a diverse workforce requires strong leadership and communication skills. Team leaders and managers noticed that by learning about new cultures and supporting their refugee employees, they became more compassionate and attuned to problems that were troubling other members of staff. This resulted in a much happier, overall workforce.

Engaging with refugee employees help improve communication channel with nonrefugee employees too (for example, explaining production processes and goals in a simpler and more accessible way benefits the whole workforce).

Stronger brand image 

Despite certain differences around the approach to refugee crisis in Europe, a report by Tent revealed that 44% of interviewed consumers were more likely to purchase from a business that supports refugees (only 14% were less likely to do so).

Employee engagement and higher performance:

Encouraging your current employees to help create an inclusive workspace can contribute towards improving their job engagement and satisfaction. This can be achieved through different ways, for example through buddy schemes and mentoring. By creating a sense of community and brining employees together, you will boost team productivity and collaboration, resulting in higher performance. See Ways to get involved section