Finding a job is an important step, but what happens after recruitment also shapes whether people can use their competences, participate in workplace life and continue to develop.
In their open-access paper Leading vulnerable workers without patronizing them: Lessons from onboarding employees with a refugee background, Renate Ortlieb, Lena Knappert and Elena Ressi examine how managers can support new employees without limiting their autonomy. Their study draws on 198 interviews involving employees with a refugee background, managers, colleagues and other stakeholders in 19 Austrian organisations.
The authors identify five practices: appointing a designated contact person, creating opportunities to work and learn alongside colleagues, developing a shared learning list with regular check-ins, allowing for different learning paces, and connecting employees with relevant organisations and services. These practices involve the wider team and make onboarding a process of mutual learning.
The study focuses on employees with a refugee background, most of whom were young men; it does not specifically examine migrant women. A comparison with the EmpowerHer Onboarding Toolbox nevertheless reveals clear similarities in the approaches described: a designated contact person, regular conversations and the involvement of the wider team are important in both. The paper offers insights into how such forms of support are put into practice and experienced by those involved.
Bibliography
Ortlieb, R., Knappert, L., & Ressi, E. (2026). Leading vulnerable workers without patronizing them: Lessons from onboarding employees with a refugee background. European Management Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2026.08.007