World of Books Group partners with local councils to support refugees

World of Books Group (Wob) has partnered with local councils to support refugees in their resettlement process. So far, Wob has hired six new staff across both its Goring and Coventry sites as part of the refugee resettlement schemes which endeavour to support refugees in finding homes, acquiring jobs and setting up a new life.

Emma Newman, Talent Acquisition Manager at Wob comments: “Refugees face many obstacles when resettling in a new country. Not only is finding a home a common challenge, but having no permanent address means it can also be hard to find a job. We want to provide refugees with the financial support that will ultimately help to rebuild their life by securing a home and a steady income. So far, we have hired three new staff for our Coventry warehouse as part of the ARAP resettlement scheme, and three refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine at our Goring site.”

Wob’s efforts to support new employees from Afghanistan, Ukraine and Syria include providing dedicated prayer rooms, offering English language courses, and managers have completed cultural workshops run by the council. Rather than an interview process, a welcome day allows new employees to trial different roles in order to choose the one that suits them best.

Graham Bell, CEO of World of Books Group, comments: “We are committed to supporting refugees in their resettlement journey. We know that uprooting their whole lives to live in a different country is a major lifestyle change they didn’t expect and we want to make the transition as easy as possible.”

Cathy Boyce, Development and Improvement Officer of Warwickshire County Council’s Refugee Resettlement Scheme says: “We are thankful to Wob for their support and for all they have done to reach out and offer employment to Afghan individuals in the community. We have been really impressed by the provision Wob have put in place and the lengths they have gone to to make people feel welcome and accommodated.”

Tim Tuckett of West Sussex County Council comments: “[We are] privileged to work in partnership with World of Books in helping refugees into the world of work. During recent months World of Books has come up with an excellent initiative with its introduction of Welcome Days for migrant groups, which enables interested candidates to learn about the company and offers it has for employment. We were especially impressed with the ease of employment for interested candidates with the right skills and the will to work hard. Following a recent Welcome Day, a number of prospective candidates from our refugee cohort expressed interest in working for World of Books. This is a promising outlook for our joint interest in getting migrant families into work in the South East.”

As more families arrive in the UK, Wob and local councils will continue to work closely to ensure refugees are being supported in their resettlement.

Related posts

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.