Tent España Grows to 45 Companies United in Helping Refugees Access the Spanish Labor Market

Madrid, July 9, 2024 –  Tent España, the national business coalition committed to helping refugees connect to work, is proud to announce a dozen new member companies, including Allianz, Citi, and PepsiCo. With this new cohort, Tent España has gone from strength to strength and now counts 45 of the country’s largest employers in its network.

Spain hosts more than half a million refugees and asylum seekers, but despite labor shortages across key sectors of the economy, including hospitality, construction, and engineering, few refugees are formally employed. There is thus both a need and urgency for companies to help reduce the numerous barriers to employment refugees commonly face and hire them. 

In this context, Tent España is seeing an ever-increasing interest from the Spanish business community to connect to this largely untapped talent pool and integrate them into the workforce. The companies joining Tent España today include Allianz, AmRest, Berry Global, Cisco, Citi, PepsiCo, Roche Diagnostics, Salesforce, Squire Patton Boggs, Swissport, and Tata Consultancy Services. 

“Our mission is to connect Tent España member companies with refugee talent across the country. Since launching last November, we have been tirelessly supporting companies in developing new initiatives or scaling up their existing efforts to integrate refugees into the workforce,” said Amaia Elizalde, Director of Tent España. “We are delighted that our coalition is now 45 members strong, and are grateful for their commitment to help refugees and asylum seekers secure jobs and set down roots in Spain.”

Tent España offers participating companies a host of services free of charge including: resources and trainings for HR teams; the sharing of best practices and ideas, distilled from Tent’s international network of hundreds of companies and tailored to the Spanish context; regular convenings and workshops with other Tent España member companies for peer-to-peer learning; and introductions to best-in-class partners that can connect companies to refugee talent.

Tent España works closely with the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration in Spain to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers with a right to work are given access to the labor market. The relationship between Tent and the Ministry was formalized a year ago through the signing of a General Protocol of Actions. 

To learn more about Tent España and its 45 member companies in Spain, please visit www.tent.org/espana.

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About Tent Espanña

With Spain welcoming significant numbers of refugees, businesses have a critical role to play in helping them integrate economically in their new communities. Tent España is a network of 45 major companies that are committed to hiring refugees across the country and helping them become job-ready. Tent España is the national coalition of the Tent Partnership for Refugees, which was founded in 2016 by Hamdi Ulukaya, the CEO and founder of Chobani – a multibillion dollar food company in the U.S. – to mobilize the world’s largest employers to help refugees access local labor markets. In addition to Spain, Tent operates in eleven other countries across the Americas and Europe. Find out more at www.tent.org/espana.