How are you supporting immigrants at work?

Immigration is an essential part of American inheritance and history. 

America as we know it today was founded by people who were in search of a better life for themselves and their families. Hundreds of years have passed, and yet the motivations remain the same for those who flee from their homelands; to escape violent conflict, to survive dire living conditions or to protect their families. 

According to the latest available estimates, there were 280.6 million global migrants in 2020—representing close to 4 percent of the world's 7.8 billion people. 

Immigrants’ innovation has been deeply influential in Americans’ everyday lives; 60 percent of the most highly valued tech companies were co-founded by first or second generation immigrants. These include Steve Jobs, a second generation Syrian immigrant, and Sergey Brin, the Russian immigrant who co-founded Google.

What is not often discussed, however, are the immense challenges immigrants face navigating an entirely new culture both in life and at work. Corporate culture can feel intimidating, language barriers can create challenges with communication and resolving conflicts, while un-investigated biases can become obstacles to collaboration.

If you are a Leader or Manager at your organization… it’s your responsibility to ensure that your workplace is welcoming to immigrants and refugees. It takes intentional effort from leaders and co-workers to create a culture that is truly inclusive, so that the burden of educating employees is not placed on those who are the cultural minority.

Our Co-Founder Katya Stepanov recently sat down with the Immigrants in Corporate Podcast to unpack these challenges and offer solutions.