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1.1 By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day
To aid in the eradication of poverty through helping people find decent work, The Adecco Group supports about 3.5 million people in finding work and provides training for hundreds of thousands more each year. In 2020, the company provided pro-bono career transition services to those most affected by COVID-19 related job losses and gave the public free access to many of their training offerings. The Adecco Group also advocates for a New Social Contract that focuses on a set of expectations from all labor market actors with corresponding responsibilities. The Group’s vision for the New Social Contract includes the good-faith collaboration between all stakeholders to achieve mutual benefits for all.
4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship
As part of its call for more and better skills development, The Adecco Group committed to re- and upskill 5 million people by 2030. The company offers training, upskilling, and reskilling to aid in transforming the workforce and placing people into decent jobs. In 2021, The Adecco Group launched Adecco Training, a service that focuses on expanding the Group’s reskilling and work-based learning capabilities, particularly as regards apprenticeships. General Assembly, a technology education provider that was acquired by The Adecco Group in 2018, is working to upskill and reskill people, regardless of background, in high-demand digital skills to increase their future employability. Similarly, the Modis Tech Academy, which is also a part of The Adecco Group, is helping people increase their employability by providing them with the opportunity to upskill in technology and digital-engineering related fields. The Group also collaborates with the Global Apprenticeship Network and the Global Alliance for YOUth to help young people build their skills and to remove barriers to employment and decent jobs.
The Adecco Group France established a program called “La Grande Ecole de l’Alternance,” a “school without walls,” to bring together the needs of companies, the expertise of training partners, and the career aspirations of youths and job seekers in a work-based training solution. The program, which was launched in 2015, aims at addressing the scarcity of competencies that are in high demand. In the meantime, more than 20,000 people have enrolled, with 85% of the people trained through the program maintaining employment 12 months after completing their training.
5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
The Adecco Group works to deliver gender-balanced candidate slates and to remove unjust hurdles from talent pipelines and career processes. The organization supports women entering the labor force, especially through using flexible working as a tool to balance work with family responsibilities that are often still borne by women.
5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life
The Adecco Group is a member of Paradigm for Parity, a coalition committed to addressing the corporate leadership gender gap. The Group is committed to achieving gender parity in leadership levels by 2030 through eliminating unconscious bias, increasing the number of women in senior operating roles, and providing women of potential with mentors.
8.5) By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value
The Adecco Group works to help people improve their employability and provide them with access to work. The Group annually helps approximately 3.5 million people find work and trains hundreds of thousands more to improve skills. Typically, a large share of people who are placed through staffing companies like the Adecco Group stay with their jobs, with 73% of agency workers remaining in employment 12 months after being placed. The Group also campaigns for more inclusive employment through global partnerships and initiatives, including the Valuable 500 and the ILO Global Business and Disability Network. Adecco Inclusion specifically works with employers to develop programs that support people from currently underrepresented groups, such as persons with a disability. The Group has several inclusion agencies across the globe to aid in this effort, including Humando in France, the Disability Work Program in the United States, Fundacion Adecco in Spain, and Fondazione Adecco in Italy.
The Adecco Group Work-Based Learning Offer
The Adecco Group France created a recruitment solution based on the creation of skills, called “La Grande Ecole de l’Alternance” − a “school without walls”. By bringing together the needs of companies, the expertise of training partners and the career aspirations of youngsters and job seekers, The Adecco Group France puts together work−based training solutions tailored to address scarcity of competencies in high demand.
Launched in 2015, it has allowed The Adecco Group France to put to work over 12,000 persons in 3 years.
In 2018, 85% of individuals who completed their work−based learning programs were still in employment 12 months after. There was only 8% drop−out at national level.
8.6) By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training
To increase youth employability, The Adecco Group is working to bridge the skills mismatch by providing youths with guidance, training, and access to opportunity. The Group’s work-based learning programs combine paid work with learning and granting a recognized degree after 6-36 months. For these programs, The Adecco Group functions as an intermediary, employer, administrator, and a mentor to the apprentice. In France, the Group runs the “Grande Ecole de l’Alternance” program to train people ages 18-24 in over 17 professions and roles. The Group supports other work-based learning programs such as internships, young graduate programs, and broader training programs, all of which exist in the countries that The Adecco Group operates.
To positively impact the lives of young people by preparing them for future employment and equipping them with the skills and experience needed to succeed in the world of work, The Adecco Group rolled out their global CEO for One Month program. The program offers young people the opportunity to develop their leadership abilities while acquiring the skills and experience they need to start a career. The program is complemented by Experience Work Day, through which the Group opens its offices to young people for them to receive work experience. During the pandemic, the program continued to operate in a virtual format. The Adecco Group also developed a Career Center to provide resources for young people to build their career skills and navigate the world of work. Topics covered by the Career Center include CV advice, cover letter preparation, interviewing practice, information on developing fields such as design thinking, information on the job market and skills for emerging jobs, and how to deal with difficult decisions on the job.
A lack of experience is one of the main barriers for young people to boost their employability and access the world of work. Temporary work, internships, work experience schemes and apprenticeships can help youngsters to take their first step onto the career ladder. They can start to build up that much−needed experience through a variety of jobs. It’s all about improving their employability. That’s where Adecco comes in − aiming to help to bridge this skills mismatch by providing guidance and training, delivered through its flagship programs, CEO for One Month and Experience Work Day, designed to provide insight and experience on skills vital to work.
CEO for One Month
CEO for One Month is Adecco’s global programme that seeks to positively impact the lives of young people, by preparing them for future employment, and equipping them with the skills and experience necessary to succeed in the world of work. The programme offers young people the opportunity to develop and showcase their leadership potential, to learn what it takes to succeed as a business leader, and to acquire the skills and experience needed to get a foot on the career ladder. At national level, the programme selects one successful candidate from the application pool shadowing the relevant Adecco Group’s country−level CEO for one month, working side by side to experience and participate in the life of a senior business leader. Outstanding national participants are then selected for a global boot camp where one amongst them is chosen to become the Global CEO for One Month and will work alongside the Adecco Group CEO Alain Dehaze for one month. In 2019, Adecco received more than 260,000 initial applications for the programme. Those who failed to make it to the final round received information, tools and support that will help them move from the world of education to the world of work
Experience Work Day
This is a global initiative to give young people exposure to the world of work to help them make their first move into the labour market. On designated days, Adecco opens its 700 offices and branches in 46 countries to young people (nearly 9000 young people).1 Participants had the chance to shadow more than 4000 of The Adecco Group’s employees in the departments and roles of their choice, learn more about their preferred jobs by almost literally stepping into their mentors’ shoes, and improve their skills through workshops and coaching. According to Adecco:
“We turn our employees into mentors. You learn from them, not a textbook. They transmit their day− to−day knowledge to all future talents, creating an experience that really works for you.”
The Adecco Career Center
The Career Center provides resources for young people to build their career skills and navigate the world of work. The content is constantly evolving, and includes topics such as:
Useful digital content for career development like CV advice, cover letter preparation, interviewing practice and requesting informational interviews
Cutting edge information on new fields like design thinking and innovation where there is increasing demand
Information on the evolving job market, what skills will be needed in the future and new types of careers that are emerging
Dealing with difficult decisions on the job
The Adecco Group Work-Based Learning Offer
The Adecco Group France created a recruitment solution based on the creation of skills, called “La Grande Ecole de l’Alternance” − a “school without walls”. By bringing together the needs of companies, the expertise of training partners and the career aspirations of youngsters and job seekers, The Adecco Group France puts together work−based training solutions tailored to address scarcity of competencies in high demand.
Launched in 2015, it has allowed The Adecco Group France to put to work over 12,000 persons in 3 years.
In 2018, 85% of individuals who completed their work−based learning programs were still in employment 12 months after. There was only 8% drop−out at national level.
8.8 Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment
To promote safe and secure working environments during the pandemic, The Adecco Group collaborated with Randstad and Manpower Group through the World Employment Confederation to publish a practical guide that builds on reviews of over 400 health and safety protocols to support companies as they re-open business operations. The guide assists businesses in establishing an action plan that will identify hazards and maintain the health and safety of employees. The Adecco Group also surveyed 14,800 workers and employers in 25 countries to understand the rising expectations for work that will follow the pandemic. The survey, conducted in 2020 and 2021, revealed for example the importance of providing mental support for workers and emphasized that the ‘Next Normal’ should move from a “one size fits all” approach to one that allows for customization.
9.2 Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, significantly raise industry’s share of employment and gross domestic product, in line with national circumstances, and double its share in least developed countries
The Adecco Group’s talent solutions brand, LHH, works with clients and public authorities in identifying ways to mitigate the social impact when ‘unsustainable’ businesses close and layoffs are unavoidable. The Group maps existing skills and offers career guidance and re- and up-skilling to workers, which helps promote employment that will address the needs of the local economy. In 2021, for example LHH transitioned workers from a closing coal mine in Spain to newly created solar power jobs in the same region. LHH is promoting sustainable industrialization by helping people generate skills that will be critical in developing and maintaining a green economy. The Adecco Group emphasizes the importance of developing skills for a green economy, publishing a paper in early 2021 on how skills can boost the transition to a more sustainable economy.
10.2 By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
As one of the largest employers in the world, The Adecco Group sees itself as having a particular responsibility to advance diversity and inclusion in employment, especially for underrepresented groups. The Group addresses this within its own operations and in collaboration with clients, developing programs that embrace diverse talent, lower barriers to access and drive equality in the world of work, e.g. through Adecco Inclusion. To further advance diversity in the workforce, the Group is a member of a number of associations and networks, in the United States e.g. OneTen, The National Urban League, The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Abilities, Inc., STEM Connector, American Society of Women Accountants, National Association of Black Accountants, and American Society of Women Certified Public Accountants.
The Adecco Group is also taking steps to contribute to the labor market integration of refugees. These steps include developing good strategic practices for integration and providing individual refugees with necessary skills and work opportunities. The Group is working with refugees from across the world, placing thousands in both flexible and permanent employment with clients in a variety of sectors. In 2020, the Group’s French inclusion unit, Humando, placed more than 1,600 refugees with jobs. The Adecco Group Italy was recognized for their efforts in Italy by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, being awarded the “Welcome. Working for refugee integration” honor. The Group also campaigns for more inclusive pathways to employment through collaborating with the International Labour Organization, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Tent Partnership for Refugees, and the European Network against Racism’s Equal@Work Platform.