Figure equates to around 5% of contractor’s current workforce

Murphy is to offer a job to as many as 175 Ukrainian refugees.

The north London contractor is working with the Home Office to develop a scheme which would see refugees from the war-torn nation become nearly 5% of the group’s more than 3,500-strong workforce.

Roles will include on-site, operative jobs as well as roles in areas including finance, along with opportunities within Murphy’s engineering, commercial and operations activities.

refugees

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Refugees in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv last month, a key departure point for neighbouring Poland

Ukrainians joining the firm will receive practical assistance with issues such as language, housing and cultural integration, with new recruits to be partnered with existing employees from Ukraine or Eastern Europe.

John Murphy, Murphy chief executive, said: “This is an opportunity to offer meaningful employment to those Ukrainians looking for work in the UK, as well as helping them and their families adapt to life here.”

The group’s people and communications director, Dawn Moore, added many of the firm’s Eastern European employees had volunteered to help.

> Also read: ‘Many problems appear, but we manage them’ – at war and under siege, a Ukrainian manufacturer perseveres

Among these is Inas Almnasra, who was born in Ukraine and lived there until the age of five.

She said the war was causing “untold heartache” and that she was “really looking forward to helping our Ukrainian colleagues to find their feet and get settled in the UK”.

Other builders to have offered to help refugees from Ukraine include McLaren while Redrow founder Steve Morgan pledged to pay for 1,000 Ukrainian refugees to come to the UK.