ning employment, joining a long list of others who are struggling to get work in the current climate. According to the Tent Partnership for Refugees, structural barriers make refugees less competitive in a standard recruitment process. They may not possess items like written evidence of prior education and experience due to the urgency that they need to flee their country.  Despite the thousands that come to Australia each year, few corporates are doing anything of note about actively placing refugees in jobs.  Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge told The Australian in February that the refugee unemployment rate sits at around 77 per cent in the first year of arrival, before dropping to 38 per cent after three years and 22 per cent after 10. Woolworths joins global refugee project Last week, Woolworths Group became the first Australian company to join Tent Partnership for Refugees, a global network of businesses that aim to improve the livelihoods of refugees by integrating them in their core business operations. Employing refugees is not new for Woolworths. Since starting The Woolworths Refugee Employment program in 2016 in partnership with Community Corporate, the retail group has placed over 150 refugees from 16 different countries in roles across its supermarkets, Metro stores and customer fulfilment centres. The employment programs to date have been focused along the east coast of Australia, with successful pilots in both South Australia and Western Australia recently.  As the nation’s largest private employer, Woolworths said it believes its teams should reflect the culturally diverse communities that they serve.  “Diverse teams are a critical part of creating a vibrant and inclusive place to work and we know it also creates better outcomes for our teams, our customers and the communities in which we operate,” Rachel Mead, head of diversity and inclusion – Woolworths Group, told Inside Retail.  “In locations with higher refugee and migrant populations, it’s a huge benefit for our team members to reflect this diversity as well. Our customers welcome the opportunity to be served by someone who can speak their language and better understand their needs.” Through the partnership with Tent, Woolworths is hoping to build on its employment program and expand it to new locations around the country.   Mead told Inside Retail that connecting with an international network allows the retail group to learn from others and understand best practice around the employment of refugees and supporting their integration into new communities.  “Key elements of the program include customised pre-employment training and coaching for refugee candidates, supported online induction training, cultural awareness training for the store leadership teams, and ongoing individual support for the refugee team members,” she said.  “In joining the Tent Partnership we hope to create even more opportunities for refugees to contribute their skills and bring a rich culture, personality and vibrancy to our business.” Retail support across APAC Across Asia Pacific, a number of other retail businesses are working with Tent, including shoe brand TOMS which has committed to giving more than 500,000 new shoes to refugee children over the next two years.  TOMS is working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) integrated programs that eliminate obstacles that prevent children from going to school and also partners with international relief organisations to respond to the global refugee crisis, providing shoes to refugee children and safe birth services to women living in camps. Meanwhile, consumer goods giant RB is supporting efforts to provide sexual health and reproductive health education to refugees through its Durex brand. Through a partnership with NGO, The Unmentionables, RB developed a smartphone app and website called UnFiltered to offer sexual health and reproductive health education. Uniqlo is also partnering with Tent to expand its practice of hiring refugees across the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany and Japan. The Japanese retailer’s parent company Fast Retailing became the first Asian company to sign a global partnership agreement with UNHCR in 2011. Along with donating clothing collected through the All-Product Recycling Initiative, Fast Retailing also assists with refugee self-reliance programs, refugee employment at UNIQLO stores, raising awareness of refugee issues and sending Fast Retailing employee volunteers to countries receiving UNHCR support. Supports available While a lack of connections, no prior local work experience, language barriers and little understanding of Australian interview processes can all prevent refugees from breaking into the jobs market, many employers and HR professionals can be guilty of unconscious bias, which Tent said can manifest in standard recruitment processes and networking activities. “Some candidates may well be the most experienced or competent person for a particular job, but they are not able to present themselves in a competitive way when standard recruitment practices are used, and the employer will not have the opportunity to give them a fair assessment,” Tent states.  There are many supports available for businesses in Australia who are seeking to hire refugees but are perhaps unsure where to start.  The Friendly Nation Initiative is a strategy of the Migration Council of Australia that supports Australian businesses to provide employment, mentoring, internship, and work experience opportunities to refugees. Supported by the Australian Industry Group, the initiative also provides a national community of practice that gives employers a support network where they can discuss, develop and share best practice in refugee employment with others. An Australian Employers Guide to Hiring Refugees has also been created by Tent to provide guidance for those interested and answer some of the common questions.  “Companies can show leadership, meet their responsibility to be good corporate citizens and send an important message by making a public commitment to proactively include refugee employees in their workforce,” the report reads.  “There are no legal barriers (in Commonwealth or State anti-discrimination laws) to providing employment opportunities to refugees in this way.”