The Integration of People from Foreign Countries and Diverse Cultures including the Integration of War Refugees on the Labor Market - The Recipe is in Hands of Responsible Companies!

On Wednesday, March 15, 2023, an open workshop entitled "Multicultural work environment - inspiration, innovation and integration for everyone!" was held in Ostrava at the industrial complex Gong in Dolní Vítkovice. The workshop was organized by the Business for Society alliance in partnership with the company Heimstaden as a part of the Diversity & Inclusion MasterClass project (D&IMC).

In the beginning, Business for Society representatives, Pavel Štern and Kamila Čubanová, presented the key principles and goals of the D&IMC project - to support the development of diversity and inclusion on the Czech labor market among employers, and to strengthen the understanding of D&I as key factors of social, economic sustainability and competitiveness of companies in the 21st century. The project offers employers the open tools for smooth adaptation of diversity and inclusion in their companies:

• Online analytic tool Diversity Compass

• Videos and podcasts with the best practice dhared by our ambassadors - Diversity Charter signatories and members

• MasterClass Guide

BPS representatives presented the Diversity Compas and the video spot with Kateřina Piechowicz, Spokesperson and CSR projects in Heimstaden.

The first panel of the workshop offered the best practice sharing with the integration of foreign workers into the Heimstaden company culture, including the support of Ukrainian war refugees. Kateřina Piechowicz, Spokesperson and CSR projects in Heimstaden, described the first moments in the company after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, including many emotional and tense moments. Despite all initial challenges and difficult situations, they were successful and helped many refugees and their families to integrate into the company and company culture. Heimstaden immediately offered fully equipped 500 apartments for Ukrainian war refugees, completely free of charge. In the critical moment after they had fled their homes, it was important to help them find a safe place (housing) and time to adapt to the new life in the new country.

They helped with language courses, with finding a job, procuring the documentation and permit, with children care and searching for schools or kindergarten, and on top of this Heaimstaden employees also helped refugees and their families fill their free time and gave them tips what to do in the nearby area. This complex approach has paid off. The war refugees have found their right place in the new country, either for a temporary period, or permanently. This comprehensive approach that our responsible companies apply shows as very effective and helps people from Ukraine fully integrate into the Czech society and contribute, including a positive impact on the labor market and the economy.

In the second panel, Ladislav Onderka, Recruitment, Selection & Onboarding, EVP leader, IKEA Czech Republic, shared IKEA experience with the Ukrainian war refugees integration and presented IKEA successful program called „Skills for Employment.“

The aim of this initiative is to help people with refugee status or protection status to gain new skills and work experience, and thus have a better chance of finding a job, either in IKEA stores or in other companies. At the same time, program participants will have much better opportunity to integrate into their new host community. This is another great example of an inclusive approach that helps these people to quickly socialize into the society and as best as possible. The project started in 2020, and during that time 234 refugees participated in the program, 59 of whom found employment at IKEA Czech Republic. Just after the Russian aggression towards Ukraine, IKEA offer the program extensively to Ukrainian war refugees. The program has a strong support among IKEA employees, over 88%. Ladislav Onderka also mentioned the key insights learned over these three years. It is always important to include all colleagues in the discussion and not only managerial positions. There is a need for an individual approach to refugees, because everyone is in a different situation and may have different needs. Housing support and childcare is also very important. Last but not least, don't forget about the current employees who work in the company.

The last part of the workshop offered a very interesting discussion with representatives of the Moravian-Silesian Employment Pact (MS PAKT) which was established as a non-governmental organization that helps with coordination of refugees and their integration in the Moravian-Silesian region. Of course, their last year activities were mainly focused on support of Ukrainian war refugees and their integration into the labor market in the region. The MS PAKT director, Martin Navrátil, together with the Ukrainian coordinators of the program Taťjána Borosan and Olena Popová, talked about the need for a comprehensive approach to "foreigners", including Ukrainian war refugees: from securing documentation and necessary certification, including nostrification or translation, through support with finding a suitable employment and housing to the search for free and available school capacities. In addition to these activities, MS PAKT also deals with career counseling, cooperation with schools and employers, and labor market analyses. From 2022 to February 2023, they counseled 702 clients, and managed to find a job to 340, and 75% of them were offered a full-time employment, which is very good result.

Again we can say that the responsible companies are the leaders in the multicultural work environment topic, as well as in the employment of people from different countries and diverse cultures, including the support and integration of Ukraininan war refugees. Their complex and inclusive approach proves to be very efficient and shows positive results.

This approach can be inspiring for the state administration and municipalities that shall offer at least the support to employers that actively deal with this topic. The main goal of the integration of people from different countries and diverse cultures into the Czech labor market shall be maximum utilization of their skills and knowledge, and make an effort to prevent their displacement into low-skilled and poorly paid jobs, including precarious forms of work. The sustainable and responsible labor market that doesn´t waste human resources, are the important values which make sense to strive for in both, an economic and social context.

We invite you to view the recording of the workshop and follow our website www.diverzita.cz, where we will continue to focus on this topic together with our responsible companies.