Standing Behind our Refugee Communities

Managed by Q was founded on the principles of the Good Jobs Strategy. In implementing this philosophy, we aim to provide equal opportunity employment to the members of the communities in which we work. As part of this mission, we support diversity and inclusion not just in the workplace, but in our society. These values have helped us build a talented team of Operators and Partners that deliver the best service to offices across the country.

In the last few weeks, we’ve seen how the political climate has challenged the principles of diversity and inclusion, which we sometimes take for granted given how ingrained they are in our day-to-day work.

Our commitment

As an advocate of fair employment practices and diversity, we feel compelled to speak up in response to the recent executive order barring refugees and citizens of certain Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. Not only do these policies contradict the values our country and company were founded upon, but they also impact the communities in which we work.

That’s why Managed by Q has joined the New York City tech community as one of 400 signatories on a letter to the President from Tech:NYC opposing the limitation of refugee programs and immigration from certain countries.

To show solidarity with a group that is doing vital work to uphold our Constitution and preserve rights and liberties, Q is matching all donations to the ACLU made by its employees twice — once by Managed by Q and once by one of our investors, Homebrew.

This week, our General Counsel is on the ground at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, volunteering legal assistance to those facing detainment or deportation. We are also looking into how these policies might affect any Q employees, and how we can offer our resources to help.

Why we care

As an office services company, it may not be apparent why we stand so strongly in favor of more open immigration and refugee program policies. When we were founded, we decided to call all of our employees ‘Operators,’ because we believe that we can achieve our goals together, and are able to build a better business due to our diverse skills and backgrounds.

While some of our Operators were born and raised in the neighborhoods we provide our services in, many have immigrated from countries all around the globe, such as Algeria, Colombia, Latvia, and Mexico, among others.

As we’ve grown our marketplace of office services in the past year, we’ve also onboarded some of the best local service providers, several of which are immigrant-owned.

One such Partner, Eat Offbeat, is a catering company that employs refugees that now call New York home. Their chefs are trained to develop, prepare, and deliver meals from their home countries, including Syria, Iraq, and Nepal, to share their culture with fellow New Yorkers.

iFurnitureassembly, which provides furniture pickup, delivery, and assembly services, was founded by an immigrant from Ukraine who moved to New York 10 years ago with $150 to his name. With employees from Russia, Mexico, and Ukraine, immigrants make up 90% of his staff.

How you can help

Building an inclusive community and standing up for what’s right takes all of us. At Q we’re finding ways to collectively make a difference.

In New York, we’ve promoted Eat Offbeat catering to our clients and featured their service prominently on our online marketplace. In the last 24 hours, Eat Offbeat has received requests for over 300 individual meals in offices across the city, who will enjoy lunch prepared by refugees with cuisines from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. We’re excited to be able to connect our network of clients to a service that is made possible by a vibrant refugee community.

To further our contributions, we are donating all our profits from the orders placed with Eat Offbeat to the ACLU.

Some of the best ways to stand behind your community of immigrants and refugees is to support their local businesses, offer aid in the ways in which you’re able, and challenge policies you believe contradict our nation’s values. As we find more ways to get involved and support refugees and immigrants, we will post them on our Twitter account, @ManagedbyQ.

We strongly believe that a diverse economy is a strong economy and that these recent policies will have long-term effects on the United States tech and business communities as a whole. We are committed to supporting the communities in the cities we serve and are excited by the prospect of working with our network of offices across the country to help make a difference.