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Business benefits of employing migrant workers

Migrant workers can make a positive contribution to business performance and productivity. They can also bring culturally unique and complementary skills and knowledge to your business.

Some of the advantages of employing migrant workers in your business include:

Filling skills gaps

Fulfiling existing contracts and taking on more work through new skills and talent.

Increased diversity

This can bring many advantages such as different perspectives, better problem-solving skills, increased creativity, and innovation. A diverse workforce can also help you attract talent, customers, and clients.

Knowledge sharing

Increasing access to international knowledge and 91Ï㽶»ÆÉ«ÊÓƵing the upskilling of co-workers.

Expansion into new markets

Strengthening contacts in international markets and local networks through new language skills and cultural awareness.

Access a larger pool of workers

By expanding into other geographical areas you are no longer limiting the talent pool to your country. You increase your chances of finding the right employees for the job in a larger talent pool.

Better problem-solving

Hiring workers from different countries and cultures can help increase your company's problem-solving capabilities. Migrant workers can offer new perspectives on old problems helping you find new and innovative solutions.

Enrichment from different cultures

Creating a more diverse workforce with varied experiences and ways of working.

Greater flexibility

People from different cultures are often more flexible regarding working hours.

Under the , it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate on the grounds of race against a job applicant:

• in the arrangements made for deciding who should be offered employment;
• in the terms in which employment is offered; or
• by refusing to offer employment

Preventing illegal migrant working

All employers have a responsibility to prevent illegal migrant working. You must check the entitlement of everyone you plan to employ to work in the UK.

See .

Job descriptions

When putting together a job description - ensure that it is a fair reflection of the role and that all criteria are essential to the job.

You should also communicate the overseas qualifications that would be considered for the role and determine any level of English required.

Job advertising

When advertising for a role, you should ensure it is advertised as widely as possible.

Jobs and Benefits Offices throughout Northern Ireland offer a range of free services to help employers find suitable staff and will assist with placing job advertisements both locally and in other countries.

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You should also ensure advertisements are written in plain English and that the wording, criteria, and images cannot be considered discriminatory.

In addition, you could also run recruitment information sessions to assist potential employees with completing applications and providing monitoring information.

You could also make sure your website is user-friendly for migrant workers by translating the job vacancy section.

You could consider alternative recruitment methods such as roadshows, open days, or even virtual job fairs to actively recruit in other countries.

Recruitment and selection

When carrying out interviews or selection testing:

• consider language issues eg abbreviations that are only understood locally
• make sure your recruitment process schedule allows time to make appropriate travel arrangements

When assessing qualifications and references, you should develop a procedure for qualification equivalency checking. See get your EU professional qualification recognised in the UK.

You could use an organisation such as the or , the designated UK national agency for the recognition and comparison of international qualifications and skills, to assist with evaluating the comparative value of qualifications gained overseas.

When carrying out an induction with a migrant worker, you should remember that they may need additional 91Ï㽶»ÆÉ«ÊÓƵ.

Beginning employment in a new organisation can be difficult for anyone but working in a new country can bring additional challenges.

Effectively assisting new employees should mean that they adapt more easily to their new roles and become more productive.

Planning an induction

When planning an induction, take into account if the individual's first language is not English.

You should also be sensitive to cultural or religious customs and make sure the process is not discriminatory in any way.

Putting together a welcome pack is a good way to provide key information about your business, employment documents, and facilities. See new starter pack for staff.

It may be useful to include information about living in Northern Ireland and English language classes in the pack. See tailoring the induction to the worker.

Further help following the induction

Following up with new employees after an induction can give you the opportunity to help further with their integration or any queries they may have eg accommodation, childcare, or banking issues.

It may also be useful to link them up with another employee who could act as a 'mentor' and provide further information and 91Ï㽶»ÆÉ«ÊÓƵ about the business and the local area.

Migrant workers may face a number of unique challenges in the workplace, including communication or language barriers, cultural differences or their international qualifications not being recognised in Northern Ireland. As an employer, you should be aware of these challenges and identify ways in which you can 91Ï㽶»ÆÉ«ÊÓƵ any migrant workers you may employ.

Implement policies and procedures

Your policies and procedures should promote equality of opportunity in the workplace, especially your equal opportunities and harassment policies and procedures.

See disciplinary, grievance, bullying and harassment policies.

You should have equality and diversity policies in place and ensure they are followed and understood across the business. See equality and diversity workplace policies.

Encouraging input from staff when creating and reviewing policies can be useful in ensuring that they are implemented throughout the organisation.

Model policy templates

The Equality Commission provides free that are available to download from the Equality Commission's website.

You should also regularly review these policies in relation to relevant issues such as language and religious and cultural needs.

Racial equality plan template

A good way to take practical action to help you implement your policies and procedures in order to benefit migrant workers and members of other racial or ethnic groups is to develop a racial equality action plan. Find further guidance from the Equality Commission on , including a racial equality plan template that you can download and adapt for your organisation.

Provide equality and diversity training

Providing equality and diversity training for all workers could also help to embed the correct procedures and values into your business. You should also include bullying, harassment, and dignity at work within this training.

Bullying and harassment training specifically for line managers/supervisors would help them spot signs of bullying or harassment and decide on the best way to deal with any issues that may arise.

Line managers should also monitor the effectiveness of staff training and be proactive in addressing any issues that arise eg a worker having difficulty mixing with other staff.

In addition, having a suitable induction process set up for non-UK nationals is essential in helping them to integrate and settle into the business and the new culture.

See taking migrant workers through their induction.

Focus on language and communication

You should ensure migrant workers understand their legal rights and responsibilities, even if this means translating important documents.

You could also use a mentoring system, where less experienced workers are paired with experienced colleagues who speak the same language.

You could also put flexible arrangements in place to allow attendance at courses in 'workplace English' for speakers of other languages. This would help to reduce the need for translation.

English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes focus on speaking and listening, reading and writing, vocabulary and punctuation, and grammar. There are courses available at different levels of competence.

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You could also help with integration among staff by organising team events where everyone can get involved eg fundraising events.

Provide training and development opportunities

It is good practice to ensure all employees have the opportunity to develop and enhance their skills, both personally and professionally.

See staff training.

There is a variety of 91Ï㽶»ÆÉ«ÊÓƵ available to both employers and migrant workers in Northern Ireland.

The Careers Service

The Careers Service, within the Department for the Economy (DfE), provides an impartial, all-age service to help with making informed choices about future career paths.

Find out more about the .

Qualifications Equivalence Service

The Department for Communities (DfC) provides the Qualifications Equivalence Service if you are a resident in Northern Ireland and need to check your qualifications against UK equivalents. This free service is accessible through your local .

A member of staff will arrange a check against UK National Recognition Information Centre (NARIC) database on your behalf, and provide you with comparison information and advice on your specific qualifications.

Not resident in Northern Ireland

If you are a non-UK national from a member state within the EU, EEA or Switzerland with professional qualifications and wish to work in Northern Ireland you may be eligible, under the EU Directive on the Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications (Directive 2005/36/EC), for automatic or general recognition of your qualifications depending on your profession.

For further details, see

The UK European Network of Information Centre (UK ENIC)

UK ENIC (formerly UK NARIC) is responsible for providing information and advice on vocational, academic and professional skills qualifications worldwide.

Managed on behalf of the UK Government, it is provided to help people who are looking for a job or wish to undertake further study.

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The Department for Business and Trade

Some professions in the UK are regulated. This can mean there is a legal requirement to have certain qualifications or experience. Other professions are regulated by chartered bodies granting a certain status.

The Department for Business and Trade has a tool to help you and find contact details for regulators of those professions.

Equality Commission

The Equality Commission provides on how they can manage the equality implications of employing and managing staff.

This includes helping you to develop a practical and flexible framework to assess your current policies in relation to race and migrant workers and using equality indicators to identify gaps in your policies.

In addition, through the , employers can also attend training seminars and information sessions on a wide range of equality issues including managing bullying and harassment and recruiting fairly.

Labour Relations Agency

The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) provides an impartial and confidential employment relations service, including advice on good employment practices and assistance with the development and implementation of policies and procedures.

The LRA also helps to through its conciliation, mediation and arbitration services.

In addition, the LRA hosts a free of best practice seminars, workshops and briefings on a broad range of employment issues throughout the year.