For more than six decades, Manpower has led the industry in providing recruitment, training, assessment and selection, and outsourcing and consulting services to thousands of clients in the United States and the world over. With revenues reaching $17 million in 2005, the company ranks as one of few world-class providers of talent to top corporations worldwide.
Manpower houses a database of more than 1.5 million resumes from professionals around the United States, an indication of its strong portfolio as an employment service provider. The company services 98 percent of Fortune 500 companies and was ranked 136th on the list in 2005. Many businesses prefer Manpower as a staff provider, serving a wide range of industries including engineering, information technology, finance/accounting, and the sciences.
The Milwaukee-based company maintains a global network of offices, including 140 dedicated professional offices in North America.
A History Driven by Social Responsibility
1948 witnessed the foundation of Manpower in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by attorneys Elmer Winter and Aaron Scheinfeld. The company's foremost offices were located in this city and Chicago. In just four years, Manpower was able to expand to several locations in the United States including Minneapolis, Cincinnati, New York, Pittsburg and Boston.
Along with its expansion, Manpower began to implement its community contribution through the establishment of Manpower Foundation, dedicated to supporting job training and education initiatives in the nation. In 2001, the foundation provided grants totaling $327,000 to charitable organizations throughout the country.
In 1956, Manpower became a multinational company founding its first office outside the United States, in Montreal and Toronto, Canada. In the same year, Manpower expands into the U.K.
The 60s saw a furtherance in Manpower's commitment to uplift all facets of the community through employment. The company introduced the "White Glove Girl" campaign in 1963 to provide job opportunities to women - this, during the height of female struggle for equality with men.
In an effort to find high school and college students summer jobs, Manpower started Youthpower in 1964, in which student volunteers work with local companies to find jobs for other students in the U.S. In 1966, Manpower received a certificate of appreciation for the program from United States President Lyndon Johnson. The decade also saw further expansion of Manpower to different global regions including South and Central America, and Asia.
Exemplifying its obligation to provide quality service, Manpower introduced the industry leading Predictable Performance System in 1976, which later became the basis for Manpower's ISO 9000 quality program.
Furthering its commitment to quality, Manpower in 1987 introduced Ultradex, a validated battery of tests to determine a candidate's aptitude for industrial work. Ultradex took three years to develop, and until now is the only system of tests in the employment services industry designed to determine an applicant's quality work ethic, attention to detail, ability to follow verbal and written instructions, speed and dexterity, and skills and abilities in performing job tasks related to industrial assignments.
In 1998, Manpower launched the Global Learning Center to deliver computer-based training via the Internet to its global workforce. An ever-expanding library of administrative and computer training courses is available online to Manpower temporary employees and contractors in nine languages through the GLC, which provides them with greater ability to improve their skills and advance their careers. Manpower also uses GLC to provide free training to refugees, in support of ninemillion.org. Through this initiative, Manpower aims to build a bridge to employment for the nine million disadvantaged youth living in refugee camps around the world.
Manpower Chairman and CEO Jeff Joerres has invited the company's more than 27,000 permanent employees across 4,400 offices in 72 countries to get involved and spread the word, about the dire situation of refugees, in their local communities.
In hopes of providing jobs to underemployed individuals, Manpower U.S. started the TechReach initiative in 1999 to offer intensive training, technical certification, continuous skill upgrades mentoring and position with employers.
The turn of the century brought advancement in Manpower International's Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, with the branches in the U.K. and Mexico forming their own community-based projects to cater to the needs of the disadvantaged. In 2000, Manpower UK launched Working Links, which invests significant amount of time and money to help job seekers overcome the barriers of finding work. Mexico, on the other hand, launched Camimejos Juntos (Walking Together) a year later, to bring job opportunities to disabled people.
As a representative of the Global Anti-trafficking Coalition and one of the world's largest non-government employers, Manpower Inc. is leading the awareness campaign to eradicate the practice of human trafficking in the business community. Manpower showed its strong commitment to the affirmation of the human rights in being the first company to sign the Athens Ethical Principles to end human trafficking. Spearheaded by Manpower Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Manpower's goal is to secure the commitment of 1,000 business leaders of the world's largest corporations by the end of 2007.
End Human Trafficking Now and ninemillion.org are two of the four pillars that comprise Manpower's social responsibility platform. The other two include Workforce Development and Disaster Recovery.
Providing Career Advancement to Hawaii's Workforce
With joblessness rating at 2.3 percent in the Hawaiian Islands, local businesses struggle to find qualified personnel who can meet their work demands. Business performance would remain stagnant without a valuable workforce to keep activities rolling.
Manpower circumvents this trend by helping local clients fill available positions and granting career advancement to Hawaii's workforce.
Hawaii Pacific Manager of Manpower Inc., and Manpower Professional, which handles candidates with degrees to executive level placement, John Scalera said that the company helps businesses find their candidates with a vast array of tools through the Internet, as well as consider thousands of local candidates on file.
"It can be a good opportunity for professionals to advance, be promoted with another company, which enables better pay preventing brain drain from the islands," John said.
Manpower provides available positions to local qualified candidate as per the requirement of local or national companies. The company has been in the business since 1960, longer than any other employment agencies in Hawaii.
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.
For more information please visit www.manpowerprofessional.com or contact honolulu.hi-professional@na.manpower.com.
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