Migration and Home Affairs

Employers together for Integration

A Commission's initiative to support labour market integration

On 23 May 2017 the Commission launched the initiative Employers together for integration on 23 May 2017 at the occasion of the second meeting of the European Dialogue on Skills and Migration to give visibility to what employers are doing to support the integration of refugees and other migrants into the labour market.

The successful integration of third-country nationals in the EU labour market represents an opportunity for our societies. When effectively integrated they can help improve the functioning and performance of the labour market, as well as support fiscal sustainability. In this process, the role of economic and social partners, and in particular of employers, is crucial. Several initiatives have been initiated by employers, trade unions, chambers of commerce in many member states.

The European Social fund is the main funding instrument supporting labour market inclusion, including of migrants. The Asylum Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) can also provide funding for preparatory measures to access the labour market. A call for proposal under AMIF will be launched in the second part of 2017 to support initiatives by employers and social partners to promote the labour market integration of refugees and other migrants.

Employers can join this initiative by following the link below and by describing their current and future actions to support the integration of refugees and other migrants in their workforce and beyond. If you are providing apprenticeships for migrants and refugees, you can also join the European Alliance for Apprenticeships.

- Join the initiative -

Employers supporting the initiative

We, as an employer, are willing to support the integration of refugees and other legal migrants, contributing to making Europe a place where a different origin or nationality does not impact or limit opportunities and participation.

In order to remain competitive in the global market, and in view of its demographic declining trends, more than ever Europe needs the right skills and competences for its labour market and economy to flourish. The skills, talents and competences of refugees and other legal migrants should not be wasted. When effectively integrated into the labour market, they can help meet the growing needs for skills across various sectors in EU Member States and make the European economy stronger.

While public policies and actors play a key role in facilitating the integration process, employers, including large companies, SMEs and public employers, can make an essential contribution in facilitating the integration of refugees and other legal migrants into the labour market and beyond. Offering opportunities, valuing and further developing skills and competences and facilitating the creation of an inclusive workplace are only some of the areas where employers can take action to make integration a reality. Several efforts were made over recent years across Europe to support refugees' labour market integration and many employers are already engaged in this field. Now is the moment to build on these, create synergies, multiply and scale-up actions.

Deutsche Telekom AG

As Deutsche Telekom, we commit to the following concrete actions:

Offering refugees concrete opportunities to enter the labour market through

  • Internships: providing internships for refugees that are structured around concrete learning outcomes
  • Apprenticeships and Corporate Bachelor Degree Programmes: providing places for refugees, combining them with language training and bridging programmes in cooperation with the German Federal Employment Agency and the Office of Migration and Refugees
  • Jobs: the development of the new program “Praktikum plus Direkteinstieg” combining internship and direct entry positions in order to allow refugees to adapt to European working life in co-operation with two other German companies and the German Federal Employment Agency
  • Career guidance:
    • Providing general information about the German labour market and possible careers paths to refugees on the online platform handbookgermany.de supported by Deutsche Telekom
    • Initiating the online job search platform Careers4Refugees.de in co-operation with Jobstairs and Jobware

Supporting refugees in developing their skills to enter and remain in the labour market through

  • Scholarships: providing scholarships for refugees at the Telekom-owned University of Telecommunications Leipzig promoting information technology and telecommunication expertise and thus providing the scholarship holders with a first-class academic education
  • Application Trainings: providing learning materials for application trainings for refugees
  • Supporting trainers and supervisors in understanding refugees needs in the context of internships and apprenticeships
  • Post-placement support for refugees after they start working at Deutsche Telekom to ensure sustainability of employment

Create an environment that promotes inclusion, both in the workplace and beyond through

  • Favour exchange between employees with and without migrant backgrounds through round tables, networks and buddy programmes
  • Promoting volunteering through acknowledgment via special leave to staff who support integration outside work via volunteering
  • Subscribing to the Diversity Charter in Germany
  • Active participation in the initiative “Wir zusammen” and thus promoting co-operation amongst companies in order to tackle the issue of refugee integration into the labour market

Download the contribution of Deutsche Telekom.

Scandic Hotels AB

As Scandic Hotels, we commit to the following concrete actions:

  • Vocational Training for newly arrived refugees who take a job within Scandic
  • National Validation process for newly arrived refugees who have a professional background as Chefs, enabling them to show their skills in the kitchen and get access to the Swedish labour market.
  • Various kinds of internships giving refugees the opportunity to show their service-skills in our 84 hotels.
  • Mentorship cooperation with organizations that work with inclusion program for newly arrived refugees, covering both persons with academic and non-academic background
  • Internal training material such as team member surveys done in multiple languages
  • Internal tools (such as IPads for housekeeping staff) that are non-language - driven, i.e. working with pictures describing tasks and status reports instead of long sentences in local language
  • Uniform concept including a Hijab for muslim team members
  • Scandic Hotels is one of the founding companies for Diversity Charter in Sweden
  • Mentorship and coaching programs in in the most non inclusive areas of the major cities in Sweden

The Adecco Group

As Adecco Group, we commit to the following concrete actions:

  • Information sharing and an informed debate is crucial to drive integration of refugees in the labour market. Therefore, we publish a White Paper on World Refugee Day 2017. This White Paper will present best practices regarding social and workplace integration for refugees by private and public sector employers. It aims to create a dialogue and support engagement between stakeholders that are essential for a successful integration process.
  • We will continue to engage in and provide support to existing projects and activities which lead to workplace inclusion for refugees as well as for all other individuals who look for employment, continuing the success of projects like our collaboration with Humando in France, our online staffing platform for refugees in Germany, and our integration project in Italy. Areas of involvement could include skills assessment, skills training, job readiness training, job matching and placement, mentoring and any other HR related services. In general, we will aim for practical solutions that can support governments and employers across Europe successfully integrate refugees. Other third-country nationals could also benefit from some of the actions that we will put in place. 
  • Building on our advocacy efforts driven in the last years, we will continue to work closely with Governments; institutional stakeholders, such as the UNHCR, the EU Commission, the OECD, the ILO, the IOM and the World Employment Confederation, as well platforms such as the GFMD Business Mechanism, and the planned UN Global Compact on Migration to provide our view and share our expertise. We will also work closely with national stakeholders, in the countries we operate in.

Download the contribution from the Adecco Group.

Hanken & SSE Executive Education

As Hanken & SSE Executive Education, we commit to the following concrete action:

Implement an executive education program for educated refugees. A pilot took place in 2016, the second round is ongoing in 2017 - 40 participants in 2016, 32 in 2017. The program consists of training, online-learning, an internship in a Finnish company and mentoring.

More information from Hanken & SSE Executive Education:

Kraftringen Energi AB

Kraftringen Energi AB offers internship and professional competence assessment for refugees/migrants with background in the energy sector. 

During autumn 2015, Kraftringen was involved in the launch of Commitment Skåne – a collaborative forum for the Swedish Public Employment Service and companies in Lund, Sweden. The purpose of the collaboration is to create a sustainable and efficient work with regard to newly arrived talents in Skåne. The aim is to shorten lead times for entering the Swedish labour market and therefore also working actively and smartly with competence and resource planning.

The energy industry is facing a major need to recruit experts with all types of industry experience. Kraftringen is contributing with a English-Swedish-Arabic phrase book containing some of the words and terms used in the energy industry. The phrase book is aimed at facilitating the introduction of employees with a background in the Middle East. 

The phrase book has been produced by Basel Taleb, an energy engineer from the Hama province in Syria who was our first intern in 2016/2017. During Basel's training with us at Kraftringen, he found the industry’s specialist terminology challenging, despite his good knowledge of Swedish and previous professional experience. We therefore asked Basel to help us create a English-Swedish-Arabic phrase book, with some of the key words and terms necessary for working in the Swedish energy industry. The phrase book is one of Kraftringen’s contributions towards facilitating integration of newly arrived employees.

UNHCR, The UN's Refugee Agency has written about Basel Taleb and our Energy Pharese book. 

Online information:

CISCO

The Cisco Networking Academy program is a non-profit partner initiative. Cisco started the public-private-partnership program 20 years ago. The first education institutions joined the program 1997 in the U.S. Institutions in Europe were following one year later. Today the program has active partnerships in all European member states.

With the Cisco Networking Academy Program the networking company provides e-learning content free of charge to improve digital skills among youngsters and for adults (employees). The content is covering a large variety of IT technology fields: networking, operating systems (LINUX), cybersecurity, Internet of Things, programming and Smart Grid. as a global platform the NetAcad content is provided in a large variety of languages including many official European languages and Arabic.

This was a good starting point to be combined with some additional efforts and investments to support refugees with labor market integration. Over the last 12 months (2016 and 2017) Cisco has delivered or is working on the following activities with a focus on the German market:

  • Development of a profiling tool that is measuring IT skills with an online skills assessment tool. Multi-language approach: (DE, EN, Arabic, Farsi)
  • Early intervention e-Learning courses free of charge. Developing basic digital skills already during the asylum process - Cisco employees work as volunteer trainers
  • Online Learning platform with content covering several fields of digital competence and in a large variety of languages
  • Creating social groups to support the individual learning process through partnerships with local initiatives, NGOs and adult education institutions
  • Internship program to provide working experience for refugees with digital skills in their new home country 

So far we have trained more then 1,250 additional individuals in Germany that belong to the gorup of refugees. Several partnerships with local initiatives have been established. Among them with ReDI School, AsylPlus, CodeDoor and other local initiatives. The first group of refugees with IT skills has been trained as instructors and starts teaching as volunteers and as a job. So far 9 refugee interns have joined Cisco Germany.

More information from CISCO:

NCC

With 18.500 staff, NCC is a large building company active in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

In the future, NCC will continue to offer various labour market training programs  that combine different forms practical studies and theory depending on the  target group for the training program.

NCC aims to attract, develop and retain a workforce that represents and reflects the society we operate in. We are committed to develop our business also by renewing our ways of viewing competence and by acknowledging a broader perspective on individual differences.

Diversity in teams enables dynamic and creative work environment, which promotes employee satisfaction and long term profitable business. Having a diverse workforce therefore supports NCC´s goal to create value for customers and other stakeholders.