January 31st 2025

SROI: Opportunities to leverage talent

Social return offers employers the opportunity to utilize talent from refugee backgrounds and make the labor market more inclusive. A recent article by Rijkswaterstaat shares examples of organizations that successfully implement social return. How have they approached this, and what can we learn from them?

What is SROI?

SROI (Social Return on Investment) helps companies create employment for people who are further removed from the labor market, such as refugees. It's not just about financial gain, but primarily about social impact: offering work experience and opportunities to people who would otherwise have more difficulty accessing the labor market. SROI is often mandatory for government contracts and subsidies, meaning that a portion of the contract value must be allocated to social impact, such as employment or training for these groups.

Social return as an opportunity

But social return is more than a requirement: it's an opportunity to make a positive impact together. At the Refugee Talent Hub, we see every day how valuable it can be to support refugees on their path to the labor market. In 2024, Rijkswaterstaat's Social Return Growth Garden team supported various organizations in the field of social return. The team recently shared lessons learned in this article , including examples from our partners TwynstraGudde and Arcadis, who are creating opportunities for refugees and thus strengthening diversity in their teams.

The initiatives of TwynstraGudde and Arcadis, and those of other organizations like EY , demonstrate that social return offers benefits not only for refugees but also for employers. Besides enabling refugees to develop their talents and find their place in the workforce, it also makes companies more future-proof and successful.

Join in

Are you an employer inspired and want to discover how your organization can contribute to an inclusive labor market? Then contact us.