Enabling a Workforce with Disabilities at Our Southeast Distribution Center

It’s common knowledge at Sephora that our purpose is inspiring fearlessness. But this commitment goes way beyond our stores and the world of beauty — it also means supporting people to make bold choices in their everyday lives.
To make this goal a reality for our people and communities, the southeast distribution center (SDC) is marching toward its objective to staff 30% of its workforce with people with disabilities.
“The decision to initiate this project was not for charitable reasons,” said Mike Racer, SVP, Supply Chain. “We did it because it’s not only a good business decision, but the right thing to do and reflects our values as a company.”

The majority of people with disabilities remains unemployed by as much as 75% — 80%, according to Ryan Hitsman, Senior Manager, Human Resources at the SDC. This is due to a myriad of factors, sometimes due to a negative perception that they can’t do certain types of work.
“It’s an untapped labor market that lends nicely to the flexible staffing needs of the distribution center environment,” Ryan said.
In fact, our staff within this demographic have performed extremely well across multiple metrics in the workplace.
“Our teams with disabilities are proving to have strong safety behaviors, achieving stellar productivity levels, and their attendance and turnover is excellent,” Mike said.
The successful pilot of this hiring strategy at the SDC bodes well for Sephora’s goal to staff 30% of all DCs with people with disabilities.
“When we say our purpose at Sephora is to inspire fearlessness, we mean it. This is the largest initiative in the state of Mississippi employing individuals with disabilities,” said Tom Gustafson, VP, Human Resources for the DCs.
“To us, it’s defining our culture of diversity and inclusion while improving business results.”
Learn more about this inspiring program by watching this moving video filmed at the SDC:

