Corporate Responsibility and Refugee Hiring: A Moral Imperative?

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one of the key ideas of big business nowadays, as doing more good in the world than just making money is important for many companies. There are many means of engaging in CSR, but one the ways to show that your corporation is interested in social good, is hiring refugees. Since many places suffer from labour shortage, it is natural for the companies to try to employ refugees who can enrich the company’s labour force with their creativity and diversity. Not only does it seem like a good business idea, it is the right thing to do, especially if the company values include equality, diversity and social justice. For any company that wants to do good and be a good, refugee hiring is a morally acceptable way to help company and society to grow.

The Ethical Case for Hiring Refugees

The moral argument is that refugees are no different to us in principle – they are people who did something horrific, and who have managed to survive it and who are looking for a new chance at life, reportedly at least willing to work in the meantime. They are people who left home due to violence, persecution or fighting, and most have been changed by that, but are probably still at least partially traumatised.

As international businesses and corporate entities operating in an increasingly interconnected and socially savvy world, corporations have a specific role to play in helping vulnerable populations, including refugees, to become self-reliant. Employment opportunities offer the ultimate form of integration allowing people to leave the camps behind and to rebuild sustainable lives and incomes within the society in which they reside. Employing refugees allows them to rebuild their lives and to become self-reliant; contribute to their families; and help them to integrate into host societies. CSR demands that companies contribute and help the communities in which they operate to thrive, and this commitment contributes directly to the bottom line of companies today.

Allowing refugees the opportunity to work and earn is a humane gesture, recognising the humanity of refugees by allowing them the chance to contribute and be respected for it. Employers can be seen as inclusive and committed to non-discrimination, and hiring refugees helps end the global displacement game and integrating once-marginalised people into society. Providing work to those who need it is always commendable. It’s even more commendable when the work goes to a refugee.

The Business Case for Refugee Hiring

Though there’s an ethical case for taking on refugees, it’s not the full story. There’s a strong business case too. While some are better-suited than others for jobs, and some simply lack experience, refugees bring skills, experience and perspectives to a range of jobs. Many have professional qualifications and experience, with as many as one in four being university graduates or technical/vocational graduates. Yet their talents go unfulfilled for a whole host of reasons, from not speaking the dominant language to having foreign credentials that are more difficult to acknowledge.This abundance of human capital can mitigate sector-based and critical labour shortages, and increase the diversity of an organisation’s workforce, making teams more innovative and productive. What’s more, migrants are likely to bring with them a wealth of values that will allow them to create new ideas for the company – because people who have risked their lives to escape their home countries are likely to have developed resilience, adaptability and problem-solving skills that will also prove to be an asset to any company.

In addition, refuge business. It’s an excellent way to ensure that a company retains or improves its reputation and reputation-based branding. Consumers, shareholders and business clients are increasingly demanding that companies lead on important public issues; they want companies to make clear statements of values when it comes to social good. Companies that take the lead on refugee hiring can differentiate themselves from their competitors and appeal particularly to consumers, shareholders and other commitment-focused stakeholders whose purchases are guided by social values of inclusion and fairness.

Corporate Leadership and Social Justice

With this, agency affordance, corporate leaders can use refugee hiring to pursue social justice by rebuffing social injustice and inequalities of work. Refugees are denied the right to work continually because of their status but the society at large has the right to work and earn. With policies that search, nurture and employ refugees, corporate leaders try to convert the world into a two-way, just world and facilitate both the future of refugees and also their past.

Meanwhile, businesses can help refugee employees in the longer run by mentoring, training and professional development to ensure their effectiveness and careers, so that their entrepreneurial or employment pathway can help facilitate their longer-term social and economic integration.

Conclusion

In addition to their moral responsibility, it’s smart business for companies to hire refugees. Companies that hire refugees send the message that they’re good corporate citizens, that they operate in an equitable and just manner. Refugees bring value to the business, the economy and ultimately to the countries they eventually call home.

As more corporate executives get on board the social responsibility bandwagon, hiring refugees should be at the top of their list. It is potentially the most important intervention that will make a difference, promote social justice and contribute towards a more just and seemingly more integrated world.