Utah businesses urged to employ refugees

Friday, Jun. 26, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — If you are an employer, hiring refugees will benefit your workforce.

That was the message at the June 18 Business Networking – Hiring Refugees presentation at Catholic Community Services, one of the events held in conjunction with Utah Refugee Month.

“Refugees are here legally in the United States, they have strong work ethics, they have high retention rates and they are loyal to your company,” said Adan Batar, director of CCS’ Refugee Resettlement & Immigration program, which each year brings about 1,000 refugees from all over the world to Utah.

More than 60 percent of these refugees become self-sufficient within six months of their arrival, added Batar, who himself came to Utah as a refugee from Somalia in 1993. 

Because refugees have survived many difficult situations, being successful in a new job is relatively simple, he added; “all they need is someone to give them a chance.”

Echoing this sentiment, keynote speaker Spencer J. Cox, lieutenant governor of Utah, said the diversity of the state’s workforce is one of the reasons that Utah is the best state in the country to do business. 

Diversity leads to better and more efficient outcomes, because people who are from disparate backgrounds are better able to find different solutions to a problem, Cox said. 

“To all the business leaders out there, I’m not just asking you to hire refugees because it’s the humane thing to do – it is, and if that’s the reason you do it, that’s the best reason to do it,” Cox said. “But I also promise you that it will make your business better, that your bottom line will improve. … These people have so much to offer us. They’re making our state better. The rest of the country and the rest of the world is noticing that.”

Also speaking at the event was Joseph M. Carlson of Carlson Staffing, which was presented with the “Best New Employer” award. The company began in a small coal mining town in Utah that was primarily comprised of Greek and Italian refugees, Carlson said, so “we understand that it’s important to have a diverse and effective workforce. …  These are good people, and they want to work and they work hard, and if you bring them in, you will see your business grow and you will see your business flourish, as we have.” 

During the event, refugee Hassibullah Danish told of some of the difficulties he faced after arriving in the U.S. last year. He came on a Special Immigrant visa from Afghanistan, where he had worked as an architect on projects for the U.S. government and therefore he and his family were threatened, so they immigrated.

“I loved my job in Afghanistan because it allowed me to use my degree and gave me practical experience, but I knew coming to the United States I would have to start again in my career and would not be at the same level I was in Afghanistan,” he said.

Among the difficulties he encountered was that his name had been improperly transcribed on his documents. He also came to realize that in the American culture, punctuality has a greater importance than it does in his home country.

He now is employed in a job that uses some of his professional skills, which gives him “the satisfaction of working again,” he said, adding that “ in the future, I hope to get back to my field, which I am confident, with the help of the community and my own will, I will be able to do.”