Sustainable Hospitality Alliance has joined with Harri, experts in hospitality workforce management, to launch a platform aimed at supporting refugees by providing access to job opportunities in the hospitality industry.
The platform called Hospitality Unite was originally run as a pilot for Ukrainian refugees looking for hospitality jobs across Europe. It centralises job opportunities posted by hotel brands and employs a simple system allowing refugees to apply and interview for roles while in transit or prior to their departure from Ukraine.
Hospitality Unite is available in English and Ukrainian and already has listings from major hospitality players such as Accor, IHG and Radisson Hotel Group. It will be shared with refugees via disaster relief agencies, and Ukrainian and other local media. The platform’s ambition is to be rolled out globally in order to aid the 90 million people currently forcibly displaced worldwide (UNHCR figures).
Harri powers the platform, which is free to use for hotels and refugees seeking employment. Initially, only hotel establishments in countries that have granted the right to work to Ukrainian refugees may participate in the initiative.
Beyond players in the hospitality sector, the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance is also working alongside the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the Tent Partnership for Refugees (Tent) to make employment opportunities available to refugees.
This platform demonstrates the role that the hospitality industry can and continues to play supporting people within local communities around the world. Through our members and our partnership with Harri, we were able to create a hub which gives refugees a centralised portal to access opportunities in real-time. Our aim is that this resource is applicable not just to this present crisis, but the ongoing situations that refugees and internally displaced people continue to experience across the globe.
Glenn Mandziuk, CEO of Sustainable Hospitality Alliance
Hospitality Unite already has a commitment from several leading global hotel brands that formed part of the steering group to help with the Ukrainian disaster and make this incredible initiative a reality. Their European hotels are actively seeking additional staff and they recognise that displaced Ukrainian nationals are motivated and skilled recruits in need of opportunity.
Pete Willis, Commercial Director at Harri
The heart of hospitality is people. In the midst of turmoil, people come together as local, national and global communities. This is what we in the hospitality industry do every day, we open our doors and hearts to take care of people. Hospitality is therefore the perfect home for those in crisis, a place where they can find work, connections and community. The hospitality sector is open to all, both those with and without experience, who care and who want to be part of something special. Accor is proud to be part of Hospitality Unite and commits to working with all those that we hire to help rebuild and grow their community and ours with them.
Anne-Sophie Béraud, Senior Vice-President Diversity & Inclusion at Accor
At IHG Hotels & Resorts, it is in our culture to bring to life our purpose of True Hospitality for Good by giving back to the communities that our thousands of hotels are part of. We are proud to see this same commitment to make a difference to the world around us is shared by the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance and our peers, and this new platform is an incredibly meaningful way to do just that.
Karin Sheppard, Senior Vice-President & Managing Director Europe at IHG Hotels & Resorts
We are proud co-initiators of Hospitality Unite, a hospitality job-search page for refugees, developed in partnership with the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance. In Radisson Hotel Group and across the industry, hospitality is home to great talent with rich and diverse backgrounds that see in hotels an opportunity to accelerate their careers in an environment full of opportunities. Radisson Hotel Group is an inclusive and diverse company committed to helping refugees and those in need to find employment, a fundamental pillar in times of need. This dedicated job-search page, powered by the Harri recruitment platform, is a significant, great new step for the industry.
Daniel Afonso, Senior Vice-President of Global Talent, Rewards & HR Technology at Radisson Hotel Group
