As population diversifies, Swedish firms start to as well
They hope it will help them tap into the rising buying power of immigrants, who now spend $30 billion a year on goods and services.
from the May 2, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
Poorly trained job counselors
In addition to facing employment discrimination, newcomers are often placed in communities where there is housing but few jobs. Poorly trained employment counselors, weak networks, and a lengthy immigration process that can last several years also delay immigrants' entry into the job market, explains Ms. Nekby.
"We have a labor market that lacks knowledge about the skills and credentials immigrants bring," she says. "Many employers also feel uncertain about how these people will fit in socially."
That helps explain why 14 percent of immigrant youths and nearly 10 percent of immigrants overall in Sweden's booming economy remain unemployed, including many with university degrees. Only 4 percent of native Swedes were officially without work in March.
"We are wasting a tremendous amount of competence this way, and a lot has to do with the fact that Swedes still aren't used to interacting with people from other cultures," says Gabriella Nilsson Fägerlind, founder of a Swedish diversity-consulting firm. "There is still the sense that you 'don't know what you get' when you hire an Iraqi man, even if he has a Swedish technical degree."
One of the first major corporations to embrace the idea that a more diverse workforce could enable the business to tap into an increasingly diverse population's buying power is the Sweden-based furniture giant IKEA.
At its Kungens Kurva store south of Stockholm, nearly 25 percent of the workforce has an immigrant background. Employees hail from 60 countries and speak more than 40 languages, reflecting the community in which the store is located.
The global furniture empire has become a poster child of sorts for other Swedish companies that are now starting to dabble in diversity terminology.
"What we're after is knowledge about our customers and the languages they speak," said Henrik Dider, the IKEA store's human-resource manager. "And the more different our employees are, the more open they are to the needs of our customers."
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