At XPO, we take pride in creating a workplace where our employees feel they belong, and we’re committed to fostering equality to ensure our people thrive. We have an opportunity to make an impact that can change people’s lives by offering rewarding jobs and providing training to support career advancement.

World Down Syndrome Day is particularly important to XPO, as in the UK we run a successful partnership with the Down’s Syndrome Association’s (DSA) program, WorkFit. WorkFit is the DSA’s employment program designed to help provide meaningful employment to people with Down Syndrome.

Building Awareness for Down Syndrome

Our people at XPO never fail to inspire as they fully dive in to the charitable events we organize – and World Down Syndrome Day was no exception! As the day fell on a Sunday this year, we celebrated the whole of the following week to give everyone a chance to get involved.

• #LotsOfSocks campaign: XPO teams (along with their children and dogs) donned a pair of brightly-colored, mis-matched socks to participate in the cheerful #LotsOfSocks campaign. The different colored socks are worn to encourage people to start a conversation about diversity, uniqueness, inclusion and acceptance and WorkFit provides some for us to sell across our sites to raise funds. The campaign is celebrated worldwide to raise awareness on Down Syndrome Day.
• The adventures of Frank the Sock Monkey: Frank the Sock Monkey is the Down Syndrome Association’s mascot and we gave our colleagues the opportunity to indulge their creative sides by printing out and coloring in an image of him and take him on adventures. It was great to see so many families getting involved, whether having Frank feed the birds in the UK or sightseeing in New York City! Frank also delighted our colleagues when he made a special appearance in this fun video we shared to kick-start our week of celebrations.

Working with DS Workfit

Logistics is a sector where we can offer tailored employment solutions that can help empower individuals with Down Syndrome. Through WorkFit, each employee has at least two “buddies” within the team and a designated trainer assigned to them. The trainer will stay with them as long as they need and works as part of the buddy team. The program benefits everyone involved and is a way for us to contribute in a meaningful way to creating a strong community.

You can read about Jack Lee, one of our front line workers who joined us at our Manchester facility as part of this scheme in this article.

We’re extremely proud to be part of such a rewarding partnership which has an impact on so many. Across the UK, we have recruited 11 colleagues through the scheme and we’re fully committed to building upon this number and continue to bring about positive change.