for refugee employees to be higher than they are for the average worker. “It’s simple as it is: This is good for business— business productivity, culture, innovation and reliability,” Ulukaya said.
The participating companies will pair employed veterans, military spouses and allies of all ages and seniority levels with at least 50 Afghan refugees over the next three years, providing one-on-one career support such as professional networking and development, interview skills training and resume and cover letter advice, aiming to hit roughly half of Tent’s goal of mentoring at least 1,500 refugees.
The program’s leaders say it gives military veterans the chance to give back to refugees who may have helped the U.S. military in the past. “It will allow [companies and veterans] to come alongside a population that quite honestly took care of our [former] and currently serving members overseas,” said Elizabeth O’Brien, executive director of Hiring Our Heroes.
The first pledges include commitments from 16 companies to pair refugees with military veterans as mentors. They include American Airlines, Bain & Co., Chobani, Cisco, Hilton, Merck, SAP, Starbucks and others. The mentorship program follows a string of commitments last September from 45 companies such as Amazon, PepsiCo and Marriott to hire more thanover the next three years. The U.S. has taken in about 90,000 Afghan refugees since the fall of Kabul in August 2021, U.S. Secretary of Veteran Affairs Denis McDonough said in the press event. The total global refugee population exceeded