Summary
Founded in 1995, Pacsort was created with the express mission of providing employment opportunities to long-term unemployed and registered disabled adults in the Dundalk area. By employing and training this population, Pacsort has found a loyal and motivated workforce.

Background
Pacsort is a privately owned small-to-medium sized enterprise (SME), based in Dundalk, Ireland, which describes its core service activity as "Returnable Package Management". Pacsort manages, tracks and sorts the returnable packaging (bottles, crates and pallets) from the brewery industry for the major drinks manufacturer, Guinness.

Responsible business objectives 
The aim of Pacsort is to select, employ and train candidates that have been excluded from the labour market as a result of having been unemployed for eighteen months plus or due to their disabilities. The Dundalk Employment Partnership supported and funded the founding of the company for this very purpose.

How they do it
The company selects the majority of its staff for training and employment from a 'live register' of the long-term unemployed and registered disabled in the Dundalk area, a small depressed area in County Down in Ireland.

What impact it has
In 1997, two years after the company was founded, over 70% of Pacsort's workforce had been long-term unemployed before they joined.

Business Benefits
The policy of recruiting from the locally long-term unemployed and training them for the tasks expected from the job, has provided Pacsort with a source of suitable and very committed employees; enabling Pacsort to achieve its high quality commitment of no more than one wrongly sorted bottle in 10,000.