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Did you know this about refugees in the UK jobs market?
- 1. Transitions London CIC Private sector and refugee employment Transitions: www.transitions-london.co.uk 1
- 2. Transitions: www.transitions-london.co.uk 2 Best Practice Employer Engagement
- 3. Employed and work placement candidates. 47% skilled jobs. 66 placements. 333 (127 STEM) applications. STEM Transitions: www.transitions-london.co.uk 3
- 4. Candidate challenges •Career gap/ references •Self confidence /mental healthTransitions: www.transitions-london.co.uk 4
- 5. Challenges for corporates (private, public, not for profit) ? Transitions: www.transitions-london.co.uk 5
- 6. Example Success story Electrical Design Engineer •consultant Transitions: www.transitions-london.co.uk 6
- 7. Suggestions gov.uk information for employers 1 year Refugee JSA: not subject to sanctions for experiencing multiple barriers Transitions: www.transitions-london.co.uk 7
- 8. Suggestions for Home Office Continue with Refugee Integration Loan New Refugee Employment Access Fund: for employers and/or refugees Provide employment services signposting information Restart RIES ? Transitions: www.transitions-london.co.uk 8
- 9. Thank you. Sheila Heard, Managing director Transitions London CIC www.transitions-london.co.uk enquiries@transitions-london.co.uk Tel 020 8642 4431 Transitions: www.transitions-london.co.uk 9
- 10. Thank you. Sheila Heard, Managing director Transitions London CIC www.transitions-london.co.uk enquiries@transitions-london.co.uk Tel 020 8642 4431 Transitions: www.transitions-london.co.uk 9
Editor's Notes
- 1. ASKED TO SPEAK ABOUT FOUR THINGS: How to engage the private sector and tackle reservations/misconceptions. How to make it easier to connect refugees with employers. Easing Government regulations to facilitate employment. Successful and unsuccessful experiences of getting refugees into employment. …........................... 2. THESE CORPORATES HAVE ALL ENGAGED COMMERCIALLY WITH TRANSITIONS By hiring through Transitions employment agency (eg ARUP , Crossrail, NGrid) Or commissioning workshops (eg KPMG, EDF, N Grid, Network Rail, Oliver Wyman, IET and ICE) Most have hosted work experience Range of private, public and not for profit clients. …........................... 3 VERY VERY CHALLENGING. LACK OF STATUTORY FRAMEWORK TO ENCOURAGE CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT WITH REFUGEES OFTEN AD HOC AND NOT CORPORATE. MANY VARIABLES. OFTEN DOWN TO GOODWILL - which I’m going to tell you about. 4 THE RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT FOR REFUGEES IN THE UK IS AROUND 70% - 6 TIMES THE NATIONAL AVERAGE 5 SO THESE CORPORATES ARE TO BE CONGRATULATED AS RECOGNISING THE BUSINESS CASE OF BEING INCLUSIVE ORGANISATIONS
- 1 HOW DO WE ENGAGE WITH ORGANISATIONS?: Range of strategies - VIA D&I teams, CSR, individual team managers , HR PARTNERS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT/CEO’S …........................... 2 This is what employers tell us they need and want. DESCRIBE THE SLIDE THEN ADD: Work experience: structured/ reflective learning journal Range of Workshops - co-delivered with corporate staff, professional bodies, candidate coaches. Presentations at membership orgs like CICA (civil engineering), BITC 3 seminars per year on best practice …................................ 3 CIC – regulated by CIC regulator …................................. 4 14% job outcomes generated employment agency fees. …..............................
- 1 READ THESE STATS FIRST: 47% SKILLED JOB OUTCOMES 2011-2015 = 57 of 121 candidates 14% GENERATED AN EMPLOYMENT AGENCY FEE. THE REST DIDN’T GENERATE US INCOME BUT WERE AS A RESULT OF THE SERVICES. 54% of employed candidates in 2015 attributed 80-100% of their job outcome success to Transitions) …............................................... 2 STORIES (Very short): NARGES STORY (Engineering Geologist) MUDHER STORY (Performance Excellence Analyst) WAHID STORY (Structural Engineer) Point out NATIONAL GRID GRADUATE TRAINEE PLACEMENT SUPERVISER Point out NETWORK RAIL D&I MANAGER SUPERVISER ….............................
- SYRIAN BANKER. STRUGGLED GREATLY. STILL NOT SETTLED IN REASONABLE EMPLOYMENT. HIGH LEVEL ENGLISH - HAD WORKED WITH HIGH VALUE INTERNATIONAL CLIENTS. Expand: 2 Career gap/ references: 3 Overseas qualifications/experience (Naric OK. 2/3 of 121 candidates have UK Degrees/Masters/PhD) 4 Jobcentre Plus (sent on workshops with entry level customers, didn’t address his questions/need for work experience/network/courses) Is there a refugee marker?? 5 Orientation/Professional Network (provided by Transitions workshops & 1-1, work experience) Pressured to find any job by Jobcentre - gave up. 6 Career Development Loan/Refugee Integration loan (couldn’t access) 7 Self confidence /mental health / Debt 8 Assumptions about ESOL/ provision of ESOL for referrals. …................................................................................................................. 9 Quote from GLA ‘London Enriched strategy 2009 – 2016 As a group, refugee professionals are likely to have higher levels of qualifications and skills than the UK populations. Despite these skills and strong motivations to work, refugees are less successful in finding jobs: the employment rate for refugees in London is less than 30 per centre.
- 1 VERY CHALLENGING COMBINATION OF TOPICS - IN ORDER TO ASSIST CORPORATES TO RESPOND AS A WHOLE ORGANISATION - WHETHER BOTTOM UP OR TOP DOWN FROM CEO 1 a Compliance unclear No mention of refugees in guide on gov.uk: ‘ Employers guide to acceptable right to work documents’ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/acceptable-right-to-work-documents-an-employers-guide Consistently the main question to us when we contact employers/when they contact us. Employers can be fined a ‘Civil Penalty’ of up to £20,000 for hiring people without permission to work. Media influence around misinformation isn’t helpful. Though they are also confused. 2 D&I fit: Refugees not named in Equality Act 2010 Was deemed to be a short-term issue Therefore almost total absence of positive action or monitoring by employers around refugee hiring. 3 Growing use of external/internal large recruitment agencies. = less opportunities for refugees 4 Business case for positive action work experience of refugees a challenge Competition with programmes supporting groups named in the Equality Act and young people 5 Viewed as over/under qualified/experienced.. …for UK work experience /apprenticeships/graduate schemes/experienced hire 6 Use of English as another language Assumptions. Some candidates do have ESOL barrier - often more about cross cultural communication than ESOL. 7 Mutual unfamiliarity Unconscious bias/ Discrimination 8 NB Corporate Ownership/buy-in/ communicated strategy around refugee engagement - often ad hoc, not regulated.
- 1 REEMS STORY - SHORT Iraq/dentist receptionist in UK IAG/ membership of IET Structured WP with reflective learning journal - underground transportation systems design. Permanent job via Transitions employment agency. IET portfolio buidling towards Eng Tech and then Chartered. …................. 2 HOW WE ENGAGED WITH ARUP - via senior management team in liaison with HR business partners. ….......................................... 3 KEY BUSINESS IMPACTS FOR ARUP : ACCESS TO INTERNATIONAL SKILLS/LANGUAGES (designing Riyahd underground stations) , INCLUSION OF WOMAN, STAFF DEVELOPMENT – awareness raising/challenging stereotypes, offering a pathway that wouldn’t have been accessible due to her self-confidence (BLOSSOMED) ENHANCED SELECTION PROCESS, BOTTOM LINE. ….......................................... 4. 10 CANDIDATE IMPACT MILESTONES including LMI, IET, COACHING, WORK EXPERIENCE, CV, INTERVIEW SKILLS, CONFIDENCE BUILDING, PROFESSIONAL NETWORK, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. …......................................... 5 ADD : RAE RESEARCH : (PRESENTED AT A TRANSITIONS SEMINAR THEY PAID FOR) 20% UK engineering undergraduates from BME backgrounds 6% professional engineers are BME 6% engineering professionals are female
- GLA is coordinating the involvement of London local authorities in the SVPR (SYRIAN VULNERABLE PERSONS’ RELOCATION) GLA could Identify Refugees as having specific employment support needs, over and above those of migrants and UK citizens, in the GLA ‘London Enriched’ refugee strategy. GLA could therefore support refugee employment initiatives with the London local authorities ie Practical employer engagement support to employers and refugees in London, supported by GLA policy. Currently, GLA ‘London Enriched’ refugee strategy in fact mainstreams refugees along with other London residents. That wasn’t the case with the previous mayoral administration. Five of the seven core themes in 2013-2016 mainstream refugees, including ‘Employment, skills and enterprise’ - no specific strategy to support refugees looking for work. In spite of the well document barriers. Employment support, in liaison with the GLA, could be delivered in boroughs who are supporting refugees, including the new Syrian refugees. Like Kingston and Ealing. ….................................................. 2. DWP/JCP: Provide a 1 year Refugee JSA package: - co-location of JCP/refugee agency services. - Flexibility rather than sanctions. …...... Savings: Single Job-seeking adult receives approximately £14,000 per year in benefits (JSA, HB, Council Tax Support). If employed on salary of £25k all benefits would cease, and almost £3k (£2,880) of income tax would be contributed. = saving off almost £17K to UK plc. (well documented) …....... www.gov.uk Inclusion of refugee right to work in the current guide: Employers guide to acceptable right to work documents https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/441957/employers_guide_to_acceptable_right_to_work_documents_v5.pdf No mention of refugees. No picture of the Biometric card No clarification that they can work in any job at any skill level. Only mention of asylum seekers and their ID Improve employers’ access to such information Eg Employer online information page on refugee compliance for hire on gov.uk . Enquiry tel. no.
- READ THROUGH THE SLIDE (4 POINTS) Loan up to £500. 5 months backlog at moment …......... 2. Home Office used to fund RIES (Refugee Integration & Employment Service) long pilot process. Closed in 2011 with 6 weeks notice, citing ‘value for money’ . NEW RIES ?? …....... 3. IN SCOTLAND, THE BRIDGES PROJECT IN GLASGOW IS CELEBRATED BY GOVT – AND FUNDED. REFUGEE COUNCIL USED TO RUN RIES (England, Wales) - REINSTATE?? REFUGEE AGENCIES HAVE THE EXPERTISE.