Upwork and Tent Announce “Opportunity Unlimited” to Connect Professionals Displaced from Ukraine to Remote Work Opportunities
July 07 2022 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Launched in partnership with Genpact, Payoneer,
and Sutherland – with the aim of expanding to more companies –
“Opportunity Unlimited” brings freelance work opportunities and
other support services to tens of thousands of displaced
refugees
Upwork, the world’s work marketplace, and the Tent Partnership
for Refugees (Tent), a global network of over 250 major businesses
committed to supporting refugees, today launched “Opportunity
Unlimited: Connecting displaced professionals to remote work” – a
new initiative to connect tens of thousands of professionals
displaced from Ukraine to skilled remote work opportunities.
As Europe sees its largest refugee crisis since World War II –
with over 5 million people having fled Ukraine and 8 million
internally displaced – and as Ukraine faces an estimated loss of 5
million jobs, the initiative connects companies around the world to
highly skilled displaced talent from Ukraine using Upwork, ensuring
these professionals can gain economic independence while
displaced.
“As we mark a grim milestone – over four months since Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine – it’s more important than ever that displaced
people within and outside Ukraine are given the chance to earn
income for themselves and their families,” said Gideon Maltz,
executive director at the Tent Partnership for Refugees. “As
permanent employment may not yet be available for most refugees
from Ukraine, freelance work is a lifeline for connecting them to
income and leveraging their skills, especially in the IT and
digital sectors. By actively recruiting talent that has been
displaced by the war in Ukraine, companies in the U.S., Europe, and
around the world will not only be helping vulnerable people, but
also benefiting from displaced professionals’ talent.”
“We’ve been in awe of the Ukrainian people’s resilience over the
course of this crisis, having figured out how to take their work
with them and continue earning a livelihood under the most
impossible circumstances,” said Hayden Brown, president and CEO of
Upwork. “As part of our mission to create economic opportunities so
that people have better lives, we are thrilled to mobilize with our
partners around the world to encourage companies to find and hire
these incredible, skilled professionals from Ukraine, wherever they
may be.”
The initiative has launched with professional services company
Genpact and digital transformation firm Sutherland as hiring
partners, who will work closely with Tent and Upwork to match
professionals from Ukraine with a range of backgrounds and skills –
including web, mobile and software development, customer support,
and marketing – with projects and long-term engagements on Upwork.
Based on initial learnings, Tent and Upwork will develop best
practices for how companies can integrate displaced independent
professionals into their existing operations at scale and will grow
the initiative to include more companies as well as other refugee
populations like displaced people from Syria and Venezuela.
“Guided by our purpose, the relentless pursuit of a world that
works better for people, we are committed to extending support to
displaced Ukrainian professionals,” said Tiger Tyagarajan, chief
executive officer of Genpact. “The strength of our global workforce
is rooted in diversity of all kinds. We welcome the opportunity to
bring the perspectives, skills, and resilience of displaced workers
from around the world to help drive meaningful transformation for
and with our clients around the world.”
To ensure the success of the initiative, Tent and Upwork will
also partner with a network of tech providers like Payoneer as well
as the United Nations International Organization for Migration
(IOM) and NGOs including HIAS, Techfugees, Humans in the Loop,
Na’amal, and Upwardly Global, among others to identify displaced
talent who can use the Upwork platform, and to provide wraparound
services such as access to training, payments, banking, and other
basic necessities.
In addition, Upwork will provide a suite of support services to
displaced professionals, including:
- Matching between displaced talent and work opportunities
available on Upwork’s platform.
- Access to talent coaches who will help displaced
professionals register on Upwork, identify skills that are in high
demand, and advise them on how to market themselves to companies
seeking independent talent.
- Skills certification and badging to increase the chances
for displaced talent to be hired.
Companies interested in joining the initiative can find out more
by visiting: https://www.upwork.com/opportunity-unlimited
About the Tent Partnership for Refugees
With more and more refugees displaced for longer periods of
time, businesses have a critical role to play in helping refugees
integrate economically in their new host communities. The Tent
Partnership for Refugees mobilizes the global business community to
improve the lives and livelihoods of 36 million refugees who have
been forcibly displaced from their home countries. Founded by
Chobani’s founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya in 2016, we are a network
of over 250 major companies committed to including refugees. Tent
believes that companies can most sustainably support refugees by
leveraging their core business operations – by engaging refugees as
potential employees, entrepreneurs and consumers. Find out more at
tent.org.
About Upwork
Upwork is the world’s work marketplace. We serve everyone from
one-person startups to over 30% of the Fortune 100 with a powerful,
trust-driven platform that enables companies and talent to work
together in new ways that unlock their potential. Our talent
community earned over $3.3 billion on Upwork in 2021 across more
than 10,000 skills in categories including website & app
development, creative & design, customer support, finance &
accounting, consulting, and operations. Learn more at upwork.com
and join us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and
TikTok.
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Aaron Motsinger press@upwork.com
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