Deafness is no problem at DC Homberg

JYSK employees Daniel, Christian and Stefan have a lot in common. They are colleagues at Distribution Centre Homberg, they are friends, and they are also deaf. GOJYSK.com met with them for a talk about their work in a JYSK distribution centre. 

Every day, thousands of packaging units are moved and dozens of forklifts dart around at Distribution Centre Homberg, Germany, getting products shipped to customers. Although Daniel Menges, Christian Boll, and Stefan Hass are all deaf, it is not a challenge to be part of JYSK.  

Stefan is the “old hand” among the three and has been with JYSK in Homberg since 1996. Christian initially worked as a metal worker and joined Homberg in 2020. Daniel is a trained carpenter and has been with JYSK since last year.  

When Stefan started 27 years ago, there was no access to sign language interpreters. All instructions were in written form, but JYSK quickly changed this. Now, they can also access interpreters for training and further education. 

“This works very well,” says Stefan.  

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The company also supports the three with work equipment: while the hearing colleagues receive spoken instructions from software when picking items by "pick by voice" and a headset, the three work with hand scanners on which they can read everything. If there is an alarm or another special situation, they will be informed via a vibration module.  

Being three deaf employees in the same company is relatively rare for organisations that are not primarily focused on people with disabilities, and they enjoy having each other as colleagues.  

"We have scheduled our breaks so that we can always spend them together," says Stefan.  

Same work, same pay, same appreciation 

But beyond that there are no differences. Christian notes that at JYSK they are consistently treated the same as their hearing colleagues.  
 
“We are employees like everyone else and our deafness is not an issue at all at work. There are companies where people with disabilities get less money for their work. This is not the case with JYSK. The following applies here: equal work, equal wages, equal appreciation. We would be happy if more deaf colleagues came to JYSK, with whom we can form a good team," he says.