Foreign aid in our factories

DIVERSITY HAS been driving the economy for many decades and Yorkshire is at the forefront of utilising the world's workforce to boost business. From the days of immigrants boarding ships to those arriving by planes and trains today, Yorkshire has always proved an attraction for those wanting to come and work here.
Neil Millan.Neil Millan.
Neil Millan.

In North Yorkshire ice-cream manufacturer R&R has seen a great deal of success in using foreign workers to help the business grow.

The creation of a multi-skilled workforce consisting of many different nationalities has played a key role in the transformation of the business into the third-largest ice-cream and lolly manufacturer in the world.

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When in 2000 the firm needed to recruit for its expanding factory at Leeming Bar, it proved difficult to recruit sufficient production workers locally so it had to look elsewhere and forged links with the Kurdish community in the North East.

Neil Millan, European human resources and group talent director at R&R, said: “Many of the refugee and migrant workers are very well qualified, often with specialist qualifications, degrees and doctorates.

“This presents us with the challenge of ensuring they are given the opportunity to use their qualifications and progress within the company if they wish.”

Today the workforce at R&R is a 50-50 split of UK-born and foreign workers.

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Europe provides the greatest share of foreign workers, with just over five per cent of the workforce coming from outside of the EU.

“We’ve got at the moment people from 15 different countries,” Mr Millan adds.

Another business using the world’s workforce is Harrogate-based manufacturer of ventilation systems Envirovent.

The group’s workforce is 24 per cent migrant workers, with many coming from across Europe, a fact that gives the company a unique perspective when it comes to day-to-day operations. Caroline Wright, HR and operations director at Envirovent, said: “In terms of advantages it gives us a broad scope of perspectives, of different ways of looking at things and different ways of doing things.

“Ultimately it’s opened up a wider labour market for us.”

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At the company’s headquarters welcome signs are hung up in many different languages to make its workers feel more at home.

Envirovent also held its first-ever International Day, which saw people come along and bring traditional food from their country of origin to share with everybody. The event raised money for charity and was also a good way of sharing in the different cultures, Ms Wright said.

She added: “We embrace the diversity within our businesses.”

One of the reasons why Envirovent has seen such an influx of foreign workers has been as a result of a network that has formed around the business.

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Ms Wright said: “A lot of people have come through friends’ recommendations so I think it’s word of mouth really.

People are talking to each other and putting forward their friends’ CVs and that results in people getting jobs.”

The company stresses, however, that it does advertise all its vacancies with the Job Centre and across job sites.

Another factor making the company such a draw to workers of all nationalities is its willingness to promote people on their individual merits.

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“We’ve had a number of people who’ve moved from production into office roles,” said Ms Wright.

“A lot of people come and they’ve got very good qualifications from their own countries so they’re keen and ambitious to do more and get on.”

Similarly, R&R puts a lot of emphasis on giving its staff opportunities to develop and move up the ladder within the company.

You only need look at the top of R&R Ice-Cream to see the perfect example of how migration has benefited British businesses at every level. The current chief executive of the business, Ibrahim Najafi, grew up in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

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He arrived in England in 1986, worked in software sales and got his PhD in electrical and electronic engineering from Cranfield University in Bedfordshire.

Mr Najafi then chose a career in food manufacturing and in 1992 joined Buckingham Foods, a chilled food producer, working his way up from the factory floor.

He draws on his father’s experience as a wheat farmer in Iraq of dealing with people from many different backgrounds, even though he doesn’t get involved in the factory’s recruitment process.

“Iraq, as we come to know now, is not just one country. It is almost a massive federal state and different ethnic backgrounds. But my father could trade and deal with every single one of them,” says Mr Najafi.

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Alongside extensive training, R&R also puts on English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses for foreign nationals who require extra help with learning the language. The opportunities for development and the work ethic of the people that the business recruits has benefited R&R’s expansion.

Mr Millan says: “The employment of refugee and migrant workers has made us a more multicultural business and staff have overwhelmingly integrated well.

“I also believe our focus on career development is vindicated by the number of foreign nationals who started on the production line and have since progressed to senior positions in production and engineering.”

He adds: “The policy has also clearly benefited the company’s expansion plans and we are now introducing many aspects at our factories on mainland Europe.”

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One factor that a lot of businesses that rely on migrant workers will have to consider is the upcoming referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union. For many like R&R it’s a watching brief at the moment.

Mr Millan said: “We’ll wait and see. The truth of the matter is that R&R has successfully grown over 30 years and dealt with any changes as they have come along.”

Whatever the politics may be around foreign workers in the UK, the contributions made at R&R and Envirovent are clear. Diversity continues to help drive the economy, especially in Yorkshire, which remains one of the most diverse counties in the country.