A new and ambitious integration and job recruitment initiative has kicked off at BC Hospitality Group’s Copenhagen Marriott hotel. Here, 40 refugees and social security beneficiaries from nearby Roskilde Municipality are job trained by BC Hospitality Group in preparation for employment in the housekeeping department of Copenhagen Marriott, as per 1 August 2017.
The job recruitment project, nicknamed ‘On the road to employment’, is run in close cooperation with the Department of Integration at Roskilde Municipality, and is beyond comparison in the Danish hospitality industry. In just three months, 40 refugees and social security beneficiaries are trained for undertaking ordinary jobs as cleaning assistants at the Copenhagen Marriott.
For permanent employment, the participants will need to meet certain employment criteria and international standards at the 5-star venue – and to be ready for job start at the height of the Summer season.
The rather intensive job training, includes courses in cleaning, guest services, languages and more, and commenced on 1 May, with the participants – if the course is completed successfully – expected to roll up their sleeves and start working at the hotel on 1 August 2017.
Allan L. Agerholm, CEO of BC Hospitality Group, explains:
“This is a huge project for us, and we have a two-fold interest in making it a pioneering success: Firstly, we – along with most of the Danish hospitality industry – are currently in need of more manpower. Secondly, we attach importance to Corporate Social Responsibility. We wish to incorporate CSR on many levels within our organisation, and creating ordinary jobs and trainee positions for marginalized groups who find it difficult to integrate into the Danish labour market, is one such example.”
The initiative carried out at the Copenhagen Marriott is thought to be one of the most ambitious public-private integration partnerships within the Danish hospitality industry to date.
