by Demetrios Pogkas. Photo by Nikolay Nikolov
Economy is one of the most important aspects that can lead to a full integration of a migrant or a displaced person. To enjoy economic integration, a refugee needs to be a member of the host country’s workforce; and for this, the individual has to have the right qualifications.
In Frankfurt, in 2015, several companies including Fraport – Frankfurt airport operator – joined forces to help with integration through the job market. Fraport has offered training to over a hundred of young refugees, resulting in the recruitment of almost 40 of them.
“As everywhere in Germany, we had a strong wish to help with this process of integrating refugees,” says Michael Müller, Member of the Executive Board of Fraport AG and Executive Director of Labor Relations.
According to Müller , the best way to integrate refugees into the workforce is not by creating new training programs designed especially for them, but by using the existing ones.
Among the challenges the company faces is job-specific language which is difficult to grasp despite the trainings for migrants. As Müller explains, this leads to fewer recruits in comparison to the number of people who attended the training. However, Fraport’s executive remains confident that the number of recruits will increase over time.
Müller emphasizes that integrating people is a long tradition of the organization. “Our company is bringing international people together. It’s a basis of our business,” he says.
The integration process within the company is quite good, Müller believes, on both employee’s and managerial levels. “Everyone feels responsible for their colleagues. It’s a question of time for integration to be not only in the workplace, but also on the personal level,” he concludes.
