OXXO: refugees, migrants and jobs

More than 1,500 refugee and migrant workers from Central American and Caribbean countries have gained formal employment at OXXO stores since 2019, according to a World Bank report.

OXXO is a convenience store chain that originated in Mexico.

Typically, regionally, refugees are people who have fled their home countries due to armed conflict, persecution, violence, or natural disasters. 

The Americas have experienced refugee flows in contexts such as the crisis in Central America.

According to the World Bank, with their jobs at OXXO, refugees and migrants earn above the minimum wage and access the employee benefits of FEMSA, OXXO’s parent company. Thirty-nine percent of these employees are women.

Since 2012, OXXO has grown rapidly throughout Mexico, opening an average of 800 stores annually. 

OXXO fills approximately 5,600 new job openings per year, and FEMSA recognized that refugees in Mexico had the potential to meet some of this demand. 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Mexico indicates that most working-age adult refugees arriving in the country have a high school education, but even those with higher education face challenges in finding formal, secure employment. 

OXXO

In addition, employers and private banks are often unfamiliar with foreign identity documents, making it difficult for them to access formal employment and financial services.

FEMSA has a Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) strategy that targets recruitment of disadvantaged groups, such as people with disabilities and older adults, and more recently expanded to include refugees.

FEMSA and OXXO target recruitment through a partnership with UNHCR. 

This helps the company identify candidates for employment and navigate legal and regulatory requirements when hiring refugees. 

Issues

This effort is part of the Durable Solutions Strategy, which has sought to integrate refugees into formal employment with the UN Refugee Agency since 2016.

To facilitate the integration of refugees into its workforce, OXXO trains managers and staff on issues facing refugees.