Tent Deutschland Strengthens Cooperation with the Federal Employment Agency to Help More Companies Connect with More Refugees

June 20, 2025 – The non-profit business network for integrating refugees into the labor market, Tent Deutschland, has grown to 80 leading companies—including new members EDEKA, Johnson Controls, and Wolt—and is now, on World Refugee Day, strengthening its cooperation with the Federal Employment Agency to accelerate the integration of refugees into the labor market. For example, they will  organize joint recruiting events to help unemployed refugees and raise awareness about Tent’s professional mentorship program for refugee women within this special group. 

Germany hosts over 1.2 million refugees, who are of working age and have a right to work. Many are still looking for work. Refugee job seekers are confronted with numerous challenges to employment  – including limited local language proficiency, lack of professional and social networks, gaps in CVs, and a lack of childcare and transportation options. 

At the same time, the German economy continues to experience acute labor shortages. Many employers are struggling to fill vacancies. Among the top professions that will continue to have the most severe shortages, according to a 2024 bottleneck analysis conducted by the Federal Employment Agency, are nursing and healthcare professions, with further shortages also existing in construction and trade professions. Professional drivers and educators are also urgently sought after. Supporting refugees’ access to the labor market therefore not only benefits refugees themselves, it allows companies across the country to access an often overlooked talent pool. Moreover, studies show that hiring refugees brings concrete benefits for companies: many of the companies report higher employee engagement and lower turnover rates, and more than half of German consumers say they are more likely to buy products from companies that hire refugees. 

Since its launch in June 2024, Tent Deutschland has registered growing interest from the business community eager to access refugee talent and strengthen their workforces: over the last 12 months, new leading companies have joined the coalition, including EDEKA, Johnson Controls, and Wolt, bringing the number of members to 80. 

“We are thrilled to be partnering with the Federal Employment Agency, as we continue to grow the Tent Deutschland network of the largest employers across Germany committed to hiring more refugees,” said Christian Schmidt, Director of Tent Deutschland. “Strengthening our relationship with the Federal Employment Agency will strategically expand our ongoing work with local employment agencies and associated entities across the country and help our companies connect with refugee job seekers and agency resources in a scalable way.”

“In just over a year, Tent Deutschland has managed to bring together 80 companies committed to play their part in supporting refugees into work. This is an impressive achievement and an important signal for the labor market. Companies that give refugees a chance are not only investing in people, but also in a sustainable, diverse, and stable society,” said Markus Biercher, Managing Director of Customer Processes at the Federal Employment Agency (BA).

Tent Deutschland offers its member companies support services free of charge including: resources and trainings for HR teams; opportunities to exchange best practices from Tent’s international network; regular networking events and workshops with other Tent Deutschland member companies for peer-to-peer learning; and introductions to best-in-class partners that can connect companies to refugee talent. 

The newly announced members of Tent Deutschland include: EDEKA, Hays, Johnson Controls, PageGroup, Pfizer, Philips, Swissport, and Wolt.

To learn more about Tent Deutschland and to see the full list of its network of 80 member companies, please visit www.tent.org/deutschland 

For media inquiries:

Lauren Kanady

Communications & Partnerships Specialist

Tent Deutschland
[email protected]

About Tent Deutschland

With Germany welcoming significant numbers of refugees, businesses have a critical role to play in helping them integrate economically in their new communities. Tent Deutschland is a network of 80 major companies that are committed to hiring refugees across the country and helping them become job-ready. Tent Deutschland 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 Germany, Tent operates in ten other countries across the Americas and Europe. Find out more at www.tent.org/Deutschland.