Unifi Aviation is making a pledge to employ 500 refugees over the next three years, a commitment the company made at the second annual TENT U.S. Business Summit on Refugees hosted by Pfizer at its global headquarters in New York City on March 26.
The largest aviation services company in the United States – Unifi already employs more than 200 refugees at its operations in Seattle, Atlanta, Houston and Minneapolis. In 2023, the company hired a former refugee to join its corporate recruitment team in Atlanta, to not only improve its refugee employment efforts but also ensure that a member of Unifi’s HR team understood the specific challenges these employees face and how to help overcome them.
Since joining TENT in 2022, Unifi has developed and improved its hiring and onboarding practices to ensure refugee applicants are considered. The company eased requirements for a high school diploma recognizing many refugees don’t have access to the same level of education, translation services, assistance with transportation to work, and more.
“We have operations in 200 locations in the U.S., and TENT helps us build relationships with resettlement agencies around the country, so we can make sure refugee communities know when and where we are hiring. It’s been a great partnership. We’re proud that Unifi’s growth over the last five years has led us to a place where we can make such a strong, important pledge of employing 500 more refugees,” said Akshay Loomba, Unifi's vice president of talent acquisition.
The company is already working on hitting that goal – with more than 120 people applying for positions at a refugee hiring event in Houston on March 28.
“One of our core values at Unifi is passion and our refugee employment program is something leadership at Unifi is very passionate about. Whether they are from Afghanistan, Myanmar or Ukraine – our refugees are not just enhancing our organization with the excellent work they do, but they are also wonderful people and it’s an honor to have them represent Unifi,” said Archana Arcot, chief people officer at Unifi.
