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Corporate Social Responsibility
News
10.31.2006 ET
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Manpower Inc. Expands Global Social Responsibility Program
(CSRwire) MILWAUKEE, WI, USA, 31 October 2006 - Manpower Inc. (NYSE: MAN)
announced today that it has expanded its social responsibility program to
encompass a broader range of initiatives that build upon its heritage as
the industry leader in workforce development for more than 50 years. The
company's expanded social responsibility platform leverages Manpower's
history of innovation in providing a bridge to employment for
disadvantaged individuals and extends these efforts to additional groups
of people in need of assistance. It also focuses on increasing awareness
of, and opposition to, labor practices that exploit individuals,
particularly those who are vulnerable.
"We strive to be socially responsible in every aspect of our business and
we focus our resources primarily on where we can have the most impact -
connecting disadvantaged people to jobs, job training and education," said
Jeffrey A. Joerres, Chairman & CEO of Manpower Inc. "In our expanded
program, we are extending these efforts to help disaster survivors,
refugees and victims of human trafficking."
The four pillars of the company's social responsibility platform are:
workforce development, disaster recovery, reaching out to refugees and
combating human trafficking.
The newer pillars include Manpower's engagement with the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its ninemillion.org campaign,
which is focused on providing education to the world's nine million
refugee children, many of whom are living long term in refugee camps
without adequate schooling in order to provide them with the skills they
will need when they are eventually repatriated. In addition to Manpower,
the companies engaged in the ninemillion.org initiative are Nike Inc.,
Microsoft, Right to Play, Earth Water International, Merck & Co. Inc. and
Procter & Gamble.
"The refugee problem is one that has no end in sight, but one in which
Manpower can make a difference by helping to provide the education that
children require in order to someday succeed in a world outside of the
refugee camps," said Joerres.
Manpower is also engaged in the End Human Trafficking Now! campaign,
championed by the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement.
This campaign strives to put an end to modern-day slavery, which forces an
estimated 12.3 million people each year into forced labor or sexual
servitude. Manpower Inc. was the first signatory of the Athens Ethical
Principles, which declares a "zero tolerance" policy for working with any
entity that benefits in any way from human trafficking. In addition,
Manpower is leading the global campaign to get 1,000 of the world's
leading corporations to join in signing the Principles by the end of 2007
and declaring that they, too, will have zero tolerance for this inhumane
abuse.
"Trafficking human beings is now the third largest illegal industry on
the planet, following only arms and drug smuggling, and it is present in
every country and territory in our network," said Joerres. "As one of the
world's largest employers, we cannot sit idly by as millions of people -
mainly women and children - are forced into modern-day slavery. We
believe in this campaign against human trafficking and we encourage other
companies to join us in standing up against the trafficking industry."
The company's disaster recovery efforts were expanded in 2005 to help
victims of the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. to rebuild
their lives. After the tsunami, Manpower partnered with Hope
International to build two vocational training centers in Tamil Nadu,
India, which are providing job training to approximately 1,000 people per
year to enable survivors to begin anew and support their families. The
company has partnered with the U.S. Department of Labor to help Katrina
victims, who remain displaced due to the storm's damage, to find short and
long-term jobs, and transition back to their home communities when the
rebuilding efforts are completed.
"The work we are doing in our vocational centers in India is truly
inspiring," said Joerres. "For decades, Manpower has been the
unparalleled world leader in providing innovative workforce development
programs in the communities in which we live and work, and now we are able
to make a big difference to help people feed their families and rebuild
their lives when disasters leave them without a means of employment."
The company's heralded workforce development initiatives include Working
Links in the UK and TechReach in the US, which have won many accolades for
their results in connecting the long-term unemployed and under-employed to
decent jobs. In Mexico, Caminemos Juntos has grown a national reputation
for its success in connecting people with disabilities to jobs.
Manpower Inc. participates in the United Nations Global Compact and
endorses the Global Sullivan Principles. The company will issue a social
responsibility report in July 2007.
For more information on Manpower's global social responsibility program,
go to the Social Responsibility section on the company's corporate
website, www.manpower.com.
Notes to editors
1. Please see www.ninemillion.org for more
information on the campaign to help the nine million children living in
refugee camps via the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
The founding partners of the UNHCR-led ninemillion.org initiative are Nike
Inc., Microsoft and Right to Play.
2. Please see http://www.gcwdp.org/index.html
for more information on the End Human Trafficking Now campaign with the
Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement.
About Manpower Inc.
Manpower Inc. (NYSE: MAN) is a world leader in the employment services
industry; creating and delivering services that enable its clients to win
in the changing world of work. The $16 billion company offers employers a
range of services for the entire employment and business cycle including
permanent, temporary and contract recruitment; employee assessment and
selection; training; outplacement; outsourcing and consulting. Manpower's
worldwide network of 4,400 offices in 72 countries and territories enables
the company to meet the needs of its 400,000 clients per year, including
small and medium size enterprises in all industry sectors, as well as the
world's largest multinational corporations. The focus of Manpower's work
is on raising productivity through improved quality, efficiency and
cost-reduction across their total workforce, enabling clients to
concentrate on their core business activities. Manpower Inc. operates
under five brands: Manpower, Manpower Professional, Elan, Jefferson Wells
and Right Management. More information on Manpower Inc. is available at www.manpower.com.
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