Deutsche Post DHL Refugee Aid Project

As a company conducting business throughout Germany and around the world, we take our responsibility to society and our communities seriously at Deutsche Post DHL, including through our adherence to the Global Compact Principles. This is why, in the midst of the recent refugee crisis confronting Europe and Germany, we took the initiative to work together with established partner organizations to help facilitate the integration of refugees in Germany.

Our refugee aid initiative is consistent with both our corporate and CR strategies and is a logical extension of our ongoing engagement in the area of corporate citizenship. By seeking to make a positive contribution to society, this also serves to strengthen our employees’ sense of mission and engagement, as we encourage and motivate them to support refugees in their areas. And, since we employ people in Germany from some 150 different countries, providing refugee aid is a natural reflex.

Our aim is to provide steady and lasting support in the process of refugee integration. This requires careful coordination with partner and other relief organizations, political representatives, and public authorities. As this project gains momentum, we will further intensify this collaboration.

Three pillars

Our refugee aid initiative rests on three key pillars: strengthening social engagement among our employees; providing vocational orientation for refugees; and supporting federal, state, and local authorities.

With the first pillar, we seek to stimulate employee engagement by motivating employees in our branch offices to support refugees in their areas. As we ramped up internal communication efforts to inform employees throughout Germany about the initiative, we received a strong response to the call to get involved. There are now some 13,000 Deutsche Post DHL employees volunteering in 650 projects, along with 100 volunteer coordinators providing a communications interface between employees and aid organizations. We are also providing €1 million in funding for local projects in which our employees are involved.

The second pillar of our refugee aid initiative is to provide vocational orientation, including by offering 1,000 internships for young adults throughout Germany. The internship program has been set up at all Deutsche Post mail and parcel centers. These are low-threshold positions as sorters and loaders, for example, allowing the deployment of interns with limited language skills. The idea is to give refugees an insight into the working world in Germany. Employees at the various branches take charge of the interns, both during the internships and beyond, such as by helping them learn German, providing car pooling, and so on. This standardized process was agreed centrally with the Federal Employment Agency and has been implemented country-wide.

With regard to the third pillar of support for federal, state, and local authorities, we are making available 100,000 sq meters of properties to shelter refugees. We are also providing 100 coordinators at 50 locations to serve as local points of contact for refugees, local administrations, and aid organizations.

Industry initiatives

In addition to the above, Deutsche Post DHL also takes part in various industry-led refugee aid initiatives within Germany, including Wir Zusammen and InCharge. Wir Zusammen is a platform that consolidates industry-led integration initiatives within Germany. It is meant to encourage companies to invest in long-term integration initiatives, with more than 50 companies taking part.

InCharge helps refugees of all ages find their footing in the labor market. It matches refugees with mentors based on the individual’s vocational or professional qualifications – an engineer with an engineer or a courier with a courier, for example. So far, more than 30 companies are taking part in the initiative.

Positive response

As the Deutsche Post DHL Group employees in Germany come from so many different countries around the world, many of them are familiar with the home regions and cultures of the refugees, which makes it easier for us to provide effective, targeted support. These employees are working with our partner organizations, acting as reading buddies and integration guides for refugees, for example.

To help them prepare for their volunteer role, we organize information events for Deutsche Post DHL employees to provide tips on effective interaction and brief them on the substance of the teaching materials. For example, in our partnership with Stiftung Lesen, we provide guidance along with a specially designed start-up box of books to prepare employees in their role as volunteer reading buddies. In addition, all volunteers receive polo shirts for enhanced visibility, which are also a token of our appreciation for their efforts. The response from employees has been very positive, with thousands signing up to take part in hundreds of different activities in the first weeks.

The strong support received from our top management and employees internally – as well as from our partners, local authorities, and communities externally, not to mention the refugees themselves – attests to the power of this compassionate action. The Deutsche Post DHL Refugee Aid Project brings together our company, our employees, and our communities in a collaborative effort that is consistent with our commitment to the Global Compact Principles.