Good for Australia
Employment is a vital part of refugees becoming self-reliant and building a future for themselves and their families.
A job brings economic security and creates feelings of belonging, being valued and recognised as an individual.
Integrating refugees into our workforce builds social cohesion and enriches our economy, conditions that are both good for business.
Good for your business
Discerning customers, clients and investors are increasingly attracted to businesses with strong corporate social responsibility credentials.
In addition, companies with more diverse workforces perform better, and people from a refugee background bring cultural knowledge that can be your competitive advantage.
Good for your workforce
Employees from a refugee background have higher retention rates and, because of their experience, often have personal qualities like resilience, adaptability and drive to succeed. Some have many years of work experience in their home countries. If you’re looking to fill a skills gap, the talent you’re looking for could be right here.
Colleagues of refugee employees also feel enriched by the opportunity to make a difference to someone building a new life.
Hiring refugees is good for Australia
Australia resettles between 16,000 and 18,000 refugees each year on humanitarian grounds. On average, over 80% are of working age.
With a job people, can become self-reliant and build a future for themselves and their families. A job also helps people feel they belong, are valued and recognised as individuals. People are proud to contribute to the society that has given them freedom and safety.
Unfortunately, like many newcomers, refugees experience barriers to fully participating in the labour market. They don’t have local work experience or social networks, their skills and qualifications are under-valued or dismissed altogether, and they’re not familiar with Australian recruitment processes.
There are compelling humanitarian grounds for Australian employers to find ways to give refugees an opportunity to join the labour force, and demonstrate what they are capable of.
Giving people the support they need to integrate and become productive members of our society in turn strengthens and enriches the welcoming community, both socially and economically. Refugees contribute as workers, entrepreneurs, consumers, taxpayers, volunteers and investors.
Modelling shows that helping refugees into work when they arrive is a worthwhile investment.
The International Monetary Fund calculates that investment in supporting refugees brings a return more than 1.8 times the initial investment within five years.
The Centre for Policy Development calculated that if the labour market outcomes for just one year’s intake of humanitarian migrants improved by 25%, then over the subsequent decade, those new arrivals would be $465 million better off and the Australian government would bank $175 million in budget savings.
Deloitte research found that the Queensland economy would be $250 million larger in 10 years if we tapped into the underutilised talent and experience of skilled migrants and refugees working in jobs they were overqualified for.
More generally, Deloitte also found that the economic dividend from Australia having a more inclusive society is estimated to be worth $12.7 billion annually as a result of higher productivity, and better employment and health outcomes.
“We estimate the economic dividend to Australia from having a more inclusive society to be $12.7 billion annually. ”
Learn more:
Tent Partnership for Refugees, Refugees Work: A humanitarian investment that yields economic dividends, May 2016 (75 pages)
IMF Staff Discussion Note, The Refugee Surge in Europe: Economic Challenges, Jan 2016 (50 pages)
Centre for Policy Development, Settling Better: Reforming refugee employment and settlement services, Feb 2017 (39 pages)
Deloitte Access Economics, Seizing the opportunity: Making the most of the skills and experience of migrants and refugees, Nov 2018 (32 pages)
Look here for a comprehensive bibliography of reports and sources to help support the business case and here for ideas for data that can help make the business case.
Hiring refugees is good for your business
Customers, clients and investors back companies with strong corporate responsibility credentials
The research shows that commitment to supporting refugees and corporate responsibility practices is good for business.
European consumers, especially millennials, are more likely to purchase from companies that hire refugees, invest in refugee enterprises, and deliver services to refugees. The research, from the NYU Stern School of Business and Tent Partnership for Refugees, was based on an online survey of approximately 12,200 consumers across France, Germany and Italy. A survey of American consumers had similar findings.
Research from KPMG shows that retail investors in Australia have a heightened level of awareness and focus on the importance of reputation, transparency, ethical behaviour, values, and social responsibility. For example, 65% of investors under 30 years old cite a company having value beyond making profit as an important factor in making investment decisions.
Learn more:
Tent Partnership for Refugees and NYU Stern School of Business, How Helping Refugees Helps Brands: Europe, June 2019 (48 pages)
Tent Partnership for Refugees and NYU Stern School of Business, How Helping Refugees Helps Brands: United States, Dec 2018 (34 pages)
Project ROI, Defining the competitive and financial advantages of corporate responsibility and sustainability, 2015 (66 pages)
KPMG, Shareholder value: Shareholder values (What motivates Australian retail investors), Sep 2019 (28 pages)
“Society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose. To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society.”
Research sponsored by Verizon and Campbell’s showed the potential that corporate responsibility practices have to deliver financial returns on investment as well as business and competitive benefits. For large publicly traded companies, there is a potential increase in revenue and price premiums of up to 20%.
Learn more:
Project ROI, Defining the competitive and financial advantages of corporate responsibility and sustainability, 2015 (66 pages)
Align your recruitment practices with your corporate values
Including refugees in the workforce aligns with corporate values such as diversity, inclusiveness, social responsibility, contributing to community and social harmony.
Some businesses have responded to the wishes of their own customers to increase their social contribution. Others take the view that the situation of refugees is a global issue and businesses have a responsibility to respond.
“We are motivated to provide an opportunity to improve the circumstances of individuals.”
“Equality is integrated in our business approach and we strongly believe that everyone is a talent. Refugees bring lots of skills and experience and as a business we have an important role to play in enabling refugees to integrate and build a new life and contribute fully to the community and local economy.”
“As the nation’s largest private employer, we want to help refugees build new, secure and fulfilling lives in Australia. We also believe our teams should reflect the cultural diverse communities we serve.”
Cultural knowledge brings a competitive advantage
Refugees provide cultural and linguistic links to a multicultural community made up of people originally from over 190 countries. Organisations can improve their understanding of customer needs and how to meet them by employing service staff who reflect the cultural background of, and speak the same language as customers. This gives organisations a competitive advantage by enabling them to deliver better services, build customer loyalty, and penetrate into new and emerging markets.
Research shows the business benefits of broadening the diversity of your customers.
Learn more:
Australian Human Rights Commission and Deloitte, Missing out: The business case for customer diversity, Feb 2017 (43 page report)
“A small but growing number of employees have reported that they are able to penetrate ‘Language Other Than English’ markets more effectively and in turn exceed market share targets of those sectors.”
“There is a benefit in having people in our branches that represent the communities in which they work. An employee in one of our branches has people queuing out the door to be served by him.”
Diversity of thinking
A group of people with different lived experiences will bring different perspectives and ideas when solving problems. Diversity of thinking has been shown to benefit businesses in their decision-making. Studies have shown that inclusive workforces and teams perform better and are more likely to innovate. Other research shows that ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to perform better than their peers. Refugees’ life experiences involve unique challenges that give them the ability to make an important contribution to solving business problems.
Learn more:
Diversity Council Australia, ‘Inclusion at Work Index 2017-2018: The state of inclusion in the Australian workforce’, Nov 2017
Infographic (2 pages)
Full report (24 pages)
McKinsey & Company (Vivian Hunt, Dennis Layton, Sara Prince), Why diversity matters, Jan 2015 (3 pages)
Business Mirror, Diverse teams feel less comfortable - and that’s why they perform better, Sep 2020 (3 pages)
Hidden Brain (38 min podcast): The Edge Effect features research that people who have deep relationships with someone from another country become more creative (“Going Out” of the Box: Close Intercultural Friendships and Romantic Relationships Spark Creativity, Workplace Innovation and Entrepreneurship)
Hiring refugees is good for your workforce
Benefits to your workforce
Read:
Australian Business Review’s story: Software firm Iress filling its talent gaps with refugees (by David Swan, 11 Feb 2020)
D&I Leaders explaining What are the benefits of hiring refugee talent? (by Jo Faragher, 16 Dec 2019)
Australian HR Institute asks Could your next employee be a refugee? (by Rachel Browne, HRM Online, 24 Sep 2015)
Resilience, courage, adaptability
The experience of surviving a refugee’s journey can be an indicator of a level of courage and resilience that can be very beneficial for an employee to have. These experiences also develop a person’s problem-solving skills and adaptability to change. The ability to communicate in more than one language also demonstrates learning agility.
Useful media
What refugees can teach us about living with uncertainty (SBS News, 30/6/20)
Post Traumatic Growth: Trauma’s silver lining (SBS The Feed, 2020)
Source of talent
Some refugees have years of work experience in their home countries but struggle to find jobs in Australia commensurate with that experience. Giving an experienced person an entry level position is seen by some companies as a short-term investment in an employee who already has the workplace maturity and capability to perform successfully in a more senior position.
Australia is experiencing major skills shortages in a range of industries. 80% of refugees are of working age and motivated to undertake skills training to work in industries where their employment prospects are high.
““Some people who come into our entry level roles are really intelligent and highly qualified, but they just want a foot in the door. It’s a good soft entry and we have opportunities for people who want to move into management roles given their capabilities.”
Higher retention rates
Employees from a refugee background have been found to have higher retention and lower absenteeism rates. For example, in a recent survey of 26 American companies, 73% reported lower turnover for refugee staff.
Learn more:
Tent Partnership for Refugees and Fiscal Policy Institute, Refugees as Employees: Good retention, strong recruitment, May 2018 (46 pages)
Forbes, Study: Refugees Stay in Manufacturing Jobs Longer than other employees, May 2018
Staff pride and morale
Staff who are involved in recruiting, supporting and working with refugee employees have personally benefit from having an opportunity to help someone build a new life.
People are proud of working in an organisation that gives them these opportunities. This boosts morale, increasing retention and attracting other people with similar values to work there.
Studies have shown that 75-85% of millennials consider a company’s social/environmental commitments when deciding where to work; and are more loyal to a company that helps them support those issues.
Learn more:
2016 Cone Communications, Employee Engagement Study (16 pages)
2016 Cone Communications, Millennial Employee Engagement Study (10 pages)
Felicity Menzies, How does employee well-being link to diversity and inclusion? 6 Sep 2018
“We feel proud of our ability to make a difference to people who’ve been forced from their homeland.”
“People will promote our company as a good place to work. They believe the business is not just about money; that it cares and wants to make a difference to people’s lives.”