The Refugee Talent Hub and IKEA work together through Skills for Employment, a national program in which refugees gain work experience in the Netherlands and work on relevant skills. Read the home furnishings store's press release about this program here.

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Haarlem, January 11, 2022 – IKEA offers people with a refugee background the opportunity to gain work experience in the Netherlands. This is done through the multi-year 'Skills for Employment program' in which status holders gain work experience, receive training in professional skills and mastery of the Dutch language. In this way, the Swedish home furnishings store wants to contribute to the integration of refugees who still have a disadvantaged position on the labor market in the Netherlands. The aim is to make it easier for them to find a paid job through this program, at IKEA or another employer. This three-month work experience program is part of IKEA's inclusion and diversity policy.

Skills for Employment

 In addition to gaining work experience in various departments, participants in the Skills for Employment program follow an intensive language course, a mentor program and training that prepares them for the labor market. This happens at three hundred IKEA stores and offices in thirty countries. In the Netherlands, the program started in 2021 in stores in Amsterdam, Haarlem, Duiven, Heerlen, Barendrecht and Breda; IKEA Eindhoven welcomes a new group of status holders this month. IKEA Amersfoort, Utrecht, Zwolle, Hengelo and Groningen will start the program in March. In addition to gaining work experience in the stores, IKEA is developing a special program for people with a refugee background for customer service in Groningen and the head office in Haarlem. The Swedish home furnishings store hopes to welcome a total of seventy newcomers per year.

Cooperation

 For the Skills for Employment program, IKEA Netherlands works closely with the employer initiative Refugee Talent Hub, which supports and advises IKEA in program development, recruitment and selection and cooperation with external parties. VluchtelingenWerk Nederland provides job coaching. At a global level, the UN refugee organization UNHCR is IKEA's official partner. By the end of 2022, IKEA wants to support at least 2,500 refugees worldwide. Successful examples can already be seen in several countries. For example, in France, a total of 88 refugees participated in 2020 and 2021; 83% of these participants subsequently started working at IKEA. At IKEA Australia, a pilot round in 2020 led to all ten participants receiving a contract extension and one person finding a job elsewhere.

Equality and inclusion

 Equality is an important core value at IKEA. The company is committed to creating an inclusive work environment and providing equal opportunities to all. With the Skills for Employment program, IKEA also wants to change the sometimes distorted image of refugees worldwide. The company focuses on the potential of people and not on someone's background. Together with the Dutch Council for Refugees, IKEA uses experienced experts who share knowledge through the 'Known makes Bemind' project to create more understanding and empathy and to discuss integration and inclusion with employees.

Important role of employers

 The new Integration Act came into effect on January 1, 2022. An important part of the new integration system is a combination of learning the language and participating in Dutch society - such as following an internship or doing (volunteer) work. As an international employer, IKEA has an important role in creating equal opportunities in the labor market for refugees. A job helps people who have fled to build an independent existence, use the knowledge and skills they bring with them and integrate into society. IKEA wants to be an example for other companies, organizations and key decision makers, while inspiring customers and society to work towards inclusion themselves.

About Ingka Group

 Ingka Group (Ingka Holding BV and its controlled entities) is one of 12 separate companies that own and operate IKEA store channels under a franchise agreement with Inter IKEA Systems BV. Ingka Group has three divisions: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centers . Ingka Group is the world's largest home furnishings retailer with 392 IKEA stores in 32 markets. In FY21, these stores welcomed 657 million visitors. IKEA.com had 4.3 billion visitors. Ingka Group honors the IKEA vision of creating a better everyday life for as many people as possible by offering high-quality, well-designed, functional and affordable home furnishing products, produced with care for people and the environment. For more information, visit IKEA.nl.