Archives December 2013

Foreign firms downsize in China amid slowing growth

Foreign companies may soon axe jobs in China given the slowing growth in the country, according to a report on Sina’s news portal.

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman has already announced intentions to cut 27,000 jobs worldwide by the end of next year, and the decision may affect 20% of its employees in China, the report said.

Sources from the American IT giant dismissed the 20% claim however, saying only a small percentage of Chinese workers will be affected.

In addition to HP, IBM may also cut its workforce soon due to global declining sales, which reports that it will let go between 6,000 and 8,000 employees, including those in China.

IBM said in October that demand in China had slowed. Executives from IBM China said the restructuring of the workforce will continue as the company pursues transformation in a changing industry.

Meanwhile, consumer goods giant Unilever has decided to cut 2,000 jobs in emerging markets including China to reduce labor costs as a result of sliding sales in the third quarter.

Aon Hewitt from Korn/Ferry International, the world’s leading headhunting firm, said recruitment by multinationals in China has slowed greatly this year compared with last year. Figures from Chinese job bank Zhaopin also showed that the number of newly created openings by Western enterprises has dropped 5% this year, despite an overall 30% increase in new job offers on its site.

AVIC unveils plan for next-generation regional aircraft

China’s major aircraft manufacturer announced on Thursday the launch of its new regional turboprop program, an indication that the country is investing heavily to grab a bigger share of the civil aviation market.

Dong Jianhong, chief designer of the aircraft at Aviation Industry Corp of China, the nation’s largest aircraft manufacturer, said at a news conference in Beijing that the next-generation turboprop, the 78-seat MA-700, will serve regional air transportation within an 800-km range and be able to fly at high altitudes and in high temperatures.

He said the AVIC turboprop will have a cutting-edge design, low operation and maintenance costs, eco-friendly technology and rigorous safety standards.

“The safety standards we adopt will be even stricter than those of civil aviation authorities in China and other nations,” Dong added. “We also designed a spacious place for each passenger that is larger than that of other aircraft of its kind.”

The aircraft will have the most advanced flight control system — fly-by-wire technology — its first use on a turboprop aircraft.

The designer said the MA-700 will be able to carry a payload of up to 8.6 metric tons and fly 610 km per hour.

The plane’s design is expected to be finalized next year, and its maiden flight is set for 2016.

The aircraft will be delivered to buyers in 2018, he said.

Before the new aircraft, AVIC developed the MA-60 turboprop regional airliner and its upgrade variant, the MA-600.

Eighty-eight MA-60s or MA-600s have been delivered to 24 buyers from 16 nations in Asia, South America and Africa, said Pang Zhen, head of AVIC’s civil aircraft development.

The rising cost of aviation fuel has put airlines under heavy pressure, making turboprop aircraft, which consume less fuel than turbofan jets, more attractive.

Pang said the global market will need at least 2,900 turboprop regional airliners in the next 20 years, and China will need nearly 350 during this period.

China has nearly 2,000 airliners, 92 percent of which are large aircraft that have more than 100 seats. The situation forces carriers to use large planes to conduct short-distance flights or even abandon short-haul routes, leading to economic losses, Pang said.

Liu Jieyin, executive vice-president of Beijing-based Okair Airlines, echoed Pang’s remarks on the need for more turboprops. Airlines are usually reluctant to use large aircraft to perform short-distance flights because it accelerates wear and tear on engines and other costly equipment while making only small profits, Liu said.

Meanwhile, taking regional aircraft for short trips is more convenient for travelers than other forms of transportation, which plays into the huge demand for such planes, he said.

“Say you want to travel from Yantai in Shandong province to Dalian in Liaoning province. An MA-60 makes the flight in 45 minutes, but it takes six to seven hours if you go by ship.”

Liu said his company has signed an agreement with AVIC to procure 50 MA-series aircraft, including the MA-700 and its variants.

Geng Ruguang, AVIC deputy general manager, said the company has commissioned consulting agencies to survey 112 potential users and will consider their requests and suggestions in the design process.

The MA-700 platform will also be refitted to serve multiple purposes such as medical service, search and rescue, maritime surveillance and scientific experiments, he added.

GSK revamps sales reps’ compensation

British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline announced on Tuesday it will on longer reward its Chinese sales representatives based on their sales volume, a vast change after the company became embroiled in a series of bribing scandals.

The new system applies to all of the GSK sales employees, including sales representatives and sales managers, who interact with prescribing healthcare professionals, according to GSK’s Tuesday announcement.

Under the new system, all customer service employees will be evaluated on technical knowledge, quality of service and adherence to the company values of transparency, integrity, respect and patient focus.

GSK is the first pharmaceutical company to publicly implement such changes in China. The company said the new system allows it to put patients’ needs above everything else it does.

The Chinese government initiated an anti-corruption campaign for the medical industry in July after conducting a bribery investigation into GSK.

According to China’s public security authorities, the company allegedly used travel agencies to funnel at least 3 billion yuan ($489 million) in bribes since 2007.

The scandal widened across an industry in which other multinational pharmaceutical companies also faced scrutiny in China over claims they bribed medical staff to prescribe their products.

GSK denies that the new move is directly related to the probe by Chinese authorities, saying the changes are part of its efforts to evolve their business model, build trust in the markets and improve transparency.

Experts said GSK and its sales team face a difficult transition.

“It will take some time for GSK to find out how to improve the effectiveness of its incentive system and how to encourage its salespeople to pay attention to their service quality for more income,” said Bruce Liu, partner and co-head of the Pharma & Healthcare practice at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.

Liu said GSK’s former payroll was based on objectives, which translates to sales volume, but it now is focused on process management.

“It is helpful to improve employees’ academic level in order to provide professional information to doctors,” he added.

“Our medical representatives are the gateway to our customers, and it is important that we inspire, coach and ultimately reward people working within the organization to focus on behaviors that reflect our values,” said Herve Gisserot, senior vice-president and general manager of GSK Pharmaceuticals and Vaccines China.

But Liu cautioned that GSK’s changes “will not get instant results.”

In the third quarter that ended Sept 30, the company reported a 61 percent year-on-year slide in its China pharmaceuticals and vaccines business.

But the crisis, Liu said, could be a blessing in disguise.

Since the government is encouraging private investment in the medical sector and prioritizing support of nonprofit hospitals run by private investors, and as experts are calling for the separation of medical services and drug sales in hospitals, Liu said GSK’s prompt action will help the company grab market share ahead of its peers.

GSK also announced it will stop paying individual healthcare professionals to attend medical conferences and instead will fund education for them through independent grants.

The transition to the new sales compensation model will start in January in China as well as in other markets around the world.

China Mobile set for 4G services in 340 cities

China Mobile, the nation’s biggest telecom operator by subscriber numbers, will offer commercial fourth generation (4G) telecom services in 340 Chinese cities next year.

Xi Guohua, chairman of China Mobile Ltd, said on Wednesday that the company will build 500,000 4G base stations across China in 2014, constituting the world’s largest 4G network. Xi was speaking during the China Mobile Global Partner Conference in Guangzhou.

“China Mobile’s marketing focus next year is in terminal sales, since mobile terminals are the foundation for mobile Internet development,” Xi pointed out.

Xi predicted that the total number of TD-LTE mobile phone models will pass 200 and entry-level 4G smartphones will hit the market in 2014.

China Mobile is targeting sales of 190 million to 220 million mobile terminals running on its wireless networks by 2014, Xi said.

In order to attract more users, China Mobile will offer generous subsidies. The company plans to invest 2.7 billion yuan ($442 million) in handset subsidies next year.

Banks to sink or swim with removal of rate caps

Deposit and loan margins will likely narrow, though not as much as expected, after the central bank removed a cap on deposit rates as part of its interest rate liberalization, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan told Caijing magazine on Tuesday.

Zhou said loan rates likely will rise, along with deposit rates, but uncertainties remain as to whether the rate margin will widen or narrow.

What is certain is that after the liberalization, risk premiums will stay little changed across sectors, and money will be spent more efficiently.

Zhou’s comments came after Beijing wrapped up its annual Central Economic Work Conference. A communique issued in the wake of the meeting listed interest rate liberalization as one of the six top economic priorities for next year. In its 60-point blueprint guiding China’s reforms over the next decade, Beijing promised the liberalization will be completed by 2020.

The People’s Bank of China, the central bank, has been loosening its control over interest rates in recent years as a key part of China’s broader market-oriented financial reform. The last remaining control is a ceiling on deposit rates, which analysts believe distorts fund pricing and shelters banks from competition.

The average interest rate margin at Chinese banks was 2.63 percent at the end of September, according to China Banking Regulatory Commission data.

The rate was up slightly over the 2.59 percent seen in the previous quarter.

Zhang Qi, an economist with Haitong Securities Co Ltd, predicted lenders would struggle in the post-liberalization era.

“For lenders, making money will not be as easy,” he said.

Zhou said that, barring a crisis, the central bank has no incentive to give financial institutions any special treatment, indicating that it won’t shelter banks that are struggling to compete. “In normal times, we hope banks will provide better financial services to the society through competition.”

A thinner interest rate margin likely will take a toll on Chinese lenders, whose balance sheets already are laden with bad loans stemming from China’s 4 trillion yuan ($654.12 billion) stimulus to save the economy at the height of the financial crisis in 2008.

Chinese banks’ share prices already had dropped last year, despite their healthy earnings, as investors feared the effects of interest rate liberalization.

The bank shares’ average price-to-earnings ratio, a key measure of valuation, is about 6, compared with 11 in the entire A-share market.

To help the State-owned lenders get through a rough patch, Beijing has been making efforts to strengthen its balance sheets.

In August, Premier Li Keqiang promised to extend a pilot plan to sell bonds backed by bank loans. The bonds will be traded for the first time on exchanges. The move is expected to help banks unload problematic loans.

Last week, China Cinda Asset Management Co Ltd raised 2.5 billion yuan at its listing in Hong Kong, and a bulk of the money will be spent buying up bad assets from the banking industry.

Cinda is one of the four bad debt managers founded in 1999 by Beijing to clear up bad loans from China’s State-owned banks. The other three also are expected to raise funds in the near term.

Growth in Recruitment Needs of China’s SMEs Closely Follows Those of Country’s Large Conglomerates

The selection process for the China Best Employer Award 2013 (best.zhaopin.com), an event hosted by Zhaopin.com (www.zhaopin.com), China’s largest recruitment website, came to a successful conclusion recently in Sanya, China. At this HR industry event, co-hosted by Zhaopin.com and the CSR and Employer Brand Communication Research Center of Peking University, China’s top 500 and other large companies were the biggest winners. Noticeably, though, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) nationwide have made great strides in brand building, and despite their gap with larger companies, their excellent performance deserves a closer look.

The development of Chinese SMEs has become a hot topic. SMEs, constrained by their smaller size, have paid increasing attention to brand building. Relative to large Chinese companies, SMEs may be better situated to play to their strengths through brand-building efforts to survive in a competitive market. For SMEs, a good brand image not only enhances their market share and customer loyalty, but also attracts the most qualified job seekers. The latter is especially vital for Chinese SMEs wishing to eliminate bottlenecks that stand in the way of development, and even survival.

At the award ceremony, Guo Sheng, CEO of Zhaopin.com, explained his firm’s analysis of the growth trends in employment during 2013 among companies of different sizes. It was inferred that in comparison with conglomerates with 10,000 or more employees, in 2013, China’s SMEs experienced significant growth in recruitment needs. They expect to boost their brand image as an employer by building a good brand and, in doing so, attract the best that the job market has to offer, accelerating their development.

According to Zhaopin.com’s best employer survey, the opportunity for self-improvement ranked first among the key characteristics of the best SME employers, this mainly being driven by the relatively extensive division of labor and the simple structure of Chinese SMEs. Employees expect to have more opportunities and a larger platform to demonstrate their personal abilities and to further enhance those abilities. Furthermore, employees of SMEs also attach importance to the respect they get from superiors, to the fulfillment of employers’ promises and to the provision of a proper employment contract and social insurance package. It is clear that China’s SME employees have reasonable expectations of the best employers and are well aware that despite no hard indicators, SMEs have their own unique model in terms of “soft power”, giving SMEs unique advantages in attracting talent.

The survey revealed that the prospective growth in salary ranks second only after the opportunity for self-improvement among the characteristics of best employers. After getting a few years of experience, employees will have higher income expectations and hope to receive better treatment as a reward for their contribution, something that is undoubtedly a weak point for SMEs that lack competitive advantage when it comes to what they can offer as compensation. It therefore behooves Chinese SMEs to start thinking about and planning ahead on how to retain employees and stimulate the initiative and cohesiveness of their workforces.

Given the aggressive momentum of large well-established companies, maintaining a delicate relationship between “humanity” and “human” is key for Chinese SMEs wishing to enhance brand image. Numerous Chinese SMEs offer excellent examples on how they “fought back” by taking the high road to enhance their brand image. Zhaopin.com, through the China Best Employer Award program, looks forward to bringing more publicity to lessons gleaned from the success stories of SMEs that made the effort to enhance their brand image.

Apple sends in experts to probe employees’ deaths

Electronics giant Apple Inc said on Thursday it has sent independent medical experts to one of its major contractors in China amid accusations that bad working conditions led to several workers’ deaths.

“We are deeply sad about the deaths of laborers at Pegatron and have commissioned independent medical professionals from the United States and China to conduct probes since last month,” Apple said in a statement.

“While they have found no evidence of any link between the deaths and working conditions there, we realize that is of little comfort to the families who have lost their loved ones.”

It added that Apple has a “long-standing commitment to providing a safe and healthy workplace for every worker in our supply chain”, and the company has formed a team to work with Pegatron Technology Co at the contractor’s plants to ensure that “conditions meet our high standards”.

Pegatron, a Taiwan-based manufacturing company that supplies Apple, Sony and Dell, confirmed on Wednesday that four workers at its Shanghai factory, which has nearly 100,000 employees, had died of diseases.

The announcement came after New York-based advocacy group China Labor Watch said on Monday that several workers at Pegatron’s Shanghai plant “passed away in a short period of time”, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

Bloomberg cited a statement from the labor rights group as saying that among the dead was a 15-year-old worker who died of pneumonia on Oct 9 at a Shanghai hospital.

The Taiwan company said in a statement that “Pegatron has strict measures in place to verify workers’ ages before and after they are hired, and we work with health and safety experts to provide a safe working environment for each and every worker”.

The young worker who died in October used his 21-year-old cousin’s identification to apply for the job, Pegatron said, adding that the factory did not know he was underage.

This is not the first time Pegatron has been targeted by China Labor Watch.

In July, the organization said it found at least 86 violations at the Pegatron factories in Shanghai and the neighboring city of Suzhou.

The violations included demanding employees work 66-69 hours a week, beyond the legally required 49-hour maximum, without overtime being paid.

Pegatron was also accused of using underage workers as interns who worked the same long hours at the factories.

However, Feng Xiliang, a labor rights expert at Capital University of Economics and Business, told China Daily that many workers at electronics companies are willing to work overtime because they want to earn more money.

“Regular wages at most plants that manufacture electronics products are usually low so those young workers must work longer to earn more,” Feng said, adding that the younger generation of migrant workers has stronger awareness of its rights and is calling for a more powerful labor union to protect its interests.

“Consequently, Apple and its suppliers have been improving their performance in the labor rights field because they don’t want to project a negative image to consumers.”

Wang Kan, a researcher in labor rights at the China Institute of Industrial Relations in Beijing, added that working conditions at Apple’s contractors are much better than those at many other electronics factories.

“Compared to the time when Steve Jobs managed the company, Apply now is paying more attention to its image in consumers’ eyes when it comes to labor rights,” Wang said. “I am not saying it is perfect, but it is fair to say that the company has improved substantially in this regard.”

Wang said most underage young people working at manufacturing plants are students sent by vocational schools as interns, and are prone to working with hazards due to loopholes in laws.

“Education laws and regulations do not cover their internships at factories, while labor codes do not categorize them as employees,” Wang said.

Agency releases 2014 holiday plan

The national body responsible for deciding China’s holiday dates has released the national holiday schedule for 2014, provoking mixed reactions from the public.

The schedule, issued by the General Office of the State Council on Wednesday, links official holiday periods with weekends, thus extending the number of consecutive days workers can take off.

The new arrangement means that Spring Festival and National Day holidays will be extended to seven-day breaks. Meanwhile, the Chinese Tomb Sweeping Day, Labor Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival will become three-day holidays. However, New Year will be celebrated as a one-day holiday.

Excluding the attached weekends, there will be 11 official days of holiday through 2014, a figure similar to previous years.

“I was hoping the total number of national holidays would increase. It is really disappointing that it didn’ t go up at all,” said Cheng Jia, 30, from Beijing.

Another Beijing resident, Wei Bo, 59, said: “I do not see much difference between the schedule for 2014 and previous years, except for the arrangement for Spring Festival holidays. According to the new schedule, we will still have to work on Chinese Lunar New Year’ s Eve — the time we are supposed to have our family reunion. This is so inhumane.”

Also on Wednesday, the State Council released amendments to the National Annual Leave and Memorial Days regulation dealing with national holidays. Enacted in 1949 and amended several times, it stipulates the specific days and lengths of national holidays.

This year’ s amendment changed the Spring Festival to the first three days of the first lunar month of each year. According to a previous amendment to the regulation made in 2008, the three-day Spring Festival started on the last day of the lunar year.

Cai Jiming, director of the Center for Political Economy at Tsinghua University, who leads a team researching holiday system reform, was also involved in the 2008 amendment.

He said the change will bring inconvenience to people who are asked by employers to work till the last minute.

His team had proposed to expand the Spring Festival from three days to four days, but the proposal was not adopted by the government.

ManpowerGroup Inc. : Promising Signs for Global Hiring Heading into 2014, According to Manpower Employment Outlook Survey

Fewer Indications of Retreat in Employer Confidence; Hiring Pace in G7 Countries Expected to Improve or Remain Relatively Stable

Employers across the globe expect a cautious yet positive approach to hiring for the start of 2014, despite ongoing economic uncertainty and disruption. Upticks in payrolls are anticipated by varying degrees, according to the first-quarter Manpower Employment Outlook survey, released today by ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN).

This quarter’s research of over 65,000 hiring managers across 42 countries and territories reveals:

* Encouraging New Year Signs for Global Labor Market: Employers in 34 of 42 countries and territories expect to increase payrolls in the next three months, compared with 29 in Q4 2013. Hiring plans strengthen in exactly half of countries and territories, weakening in 15 quarter-over-quarter. Outlooks are stronger in 21 countries and territories compared with one year ago at this time, and decline in 17.
* Where First Quarter Hiring Plans are Strongest: Employers in Taiwan, India, New Zealand, Colombia and Singapore report the most optimistic outlooks, while the weakest – and only negative – outlooks are reported in Italy, Ireland, Finland, Spain, Slovakia and Belgium.
* Japan Outlook Strongest in Nearly Six Years: Japanese employers report the most optimistic hiring intentions since Q2 2008, with Tokyo’s outlook the strongest since Q3 2008, while their Chinese counterparts anticipate no change in hiring plans – a steady Net Employment Outlook of +13% for the coming quarter.
* Brazil Slows Back to the Pack: Brazilian employers forecast their weakest hiring climate since the survey began in Q4 2009, but still expect favorable hiring. Elsewhere in the Americas, US employers report steady hiring activity and the region’s least optimistic hiring plans are reported in Argentina.
* Europe Fragile but Greece Makes Strides: As in the previous quarter, Europe’s strongest hiring plans are reported in Turkey. Greek employers forecast the strongest hiring pace since Q4 2008, improving by 6 and 17 percentage points from Q4 2013 and Q1 2013, respectively. Hungarian employers report their most optimistic hiring plans since the survey began there in Q3 2009. Modest payroll gains are anticipated in France. Hiring prospects remain relatively stable quarter-over-quarter in Germany, but are three percentage points weaker year-over-year. Irish, Italian and Spanish employers continue to predict weak labor markets.

“Employers in many parts of the world anticipate mostly modest payroll gains, which may nevertheless be a sign of some gathering hiring momentum as we head into 2014,” said Jeffrey A. Joerres, ManpowerGroup Chairman and CEO. “However, whether you view labor market growth as steady or stagnant may well depend which side of the interview table you’re sitting on. Employers will see these gains as a sensibly cautious approach to ongoing certain uncertainty, while job seekers may interpret the results as a sign of labor market stasis.”

“With some exceptions – notably Brazil and, to some extent, mainland China – the report indicates few signs of a general retreat in employer confidence. When compared quarter-over-quarter, employer hiring intentions in the G7 countries improve or remain relatively stable and many employers tell us that they intend to add to their payrolls, but at far more modest rates than in the pre-recession years. It may well be that varying levels of marginally positive hiring intent is as good as it gets.”

Employer hiring intentions remain positive in all 10 countries ManpowerGroup surveys in the Americas. However, the first-quarter forecasts are mostly weaker in both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year comparisons. Colombian employers expect the strongest hiring pace with three out of 10 employers expecting to grow first-quarter payrolls. A steady hiring pace is also expected in Brazil, but the country’s outlook has weakened by varying degrees for nine consecutive quarters and now stands at its weakest point since the Brazilian survey was launched in 2009. The U.S. outlook remains upbeat and is relatively stable in both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year comparisons.

“Despite fears that the recent government shutdown might dent hiring confidence and the multitude of outside factors that contribute to an uncertain landscape, American employers continue on the five-year pattern of steady jobs growth,” said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup President. “Hiring has been particularly robust in wholesale and retail, and our survey tells us that is likely to be the case into the new year.”

Regionally, employers throughout Asia Pacific continue to report positive Net Employment Outlooks. Job seekers in Taiwan are likely to benefit from the most robust hiring pace in the region, with more than one of every three employers indicating they plan to add to their payrolls in the first quarter. First-quarter prospects are also bright for India’s job seekers with a brisk hiring pace expected in most industry sectors and all regions. Japan’s outlook stands at its strongest since the second quarter of 2008 following more than four years of steadily improving forecasts. Hiring plans also remain positive in China, but the outlook continues to rest at a position below the more optimistic forecasts of late 2010 and early 2011, adding further evidence that the country’s growth track may be leveling off. The region’s weakest forecast is reported in Australia despite moderate quarter-over-quarter improvements in both the Mining & Construction and Finance sectors.

“Chinese employers are increasingly concerned that they will experience managerial shortages in the future. To continue on its path of sustainable growth, China needs to build a home-grown cadre of globally minded, savvy business leaders,” said Darryl Green, ManpowerGroup President. “The situation is similar in Japan; the needs of corporate Japan are not met by the young people that are being produced by Japanese education and society. Unless actions are taken to address these problems, the country’s competitive edge will continue to erode.”

Europe paints a very mixed picture. The region’s strongest hiring plans are reported in Turkey and weakest in Italy where for the 12th consecutive quarter employers report negative hiring intentions. Conversely, opportunities for job seekers in Greece are expected to noticeably shift to the positive in the next three months as the outlook climbs for the sixth consecutive quarter and employers report the strongest hiring intentions in over five years.

“The Eurozone recovery remains tepid but employers in the region continue to show signs of cautious optimism. Crucially, Germany shows stability but talent shortages there are a recurring theme and recruitment strategies need to be adjusted accordingly to embrace flexibility,” added Green. “The Republic of Ireland’s impending exit from international bailout is a positive step. Meanwhile, the UK unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in more than three years but the high number of people in part-time work means that serious challenges remain.”

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey Explorer tool, a new interactive way to examine and compare ManpowerGroup’s data, can be viewed at http://www.manpowergroupsolutions.com/DataExplorer/. The tool includes at-a-glance maps and graphs that plot historical and current global hiring trends. The next Manpower Employment Outlook Survey will be released on 11 March 2014 to report hiring expectations for the second quarter of 2014.

About the Survey
The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey is the longest-running, most extensive, forward-looking employment survey in the world, commencing in 1962 and now polling over 65,000 employers in 42 countries and territories to measure their intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforce during the next quarter. The survey serves as a bellwether of labor market trends and activities and is regularly used to inform the Bank of England’s Inflation Reports, as well as a regular data source for the European Commission, informing its EU Employment Situation and Social Outlook report the Monthly Monitor. ManpowerGroup’s independent survey data is also sourced by financial analysts and economists around the world to help determine the health of labor markets.

About ManpowerGroup

ManpowerGroup™ (NYSE: MAN) is the world leader in innovative workforce solutions that ensure the talent sustainability of the world’s workforce for the good of companies, communities, countries, and individuals themselves. Specializing in solutions that help organizations achieve business agility and workforce flexibility, ManpowerGroup leverages its 65 years of world of work expertise to create the work models, design the people practices and access the talent sources its clients need for the future. From staffing, recruitment, workforce consulting, outsourcing and career management to assessment, training and development, ManpowerGroup delivers the talent to drive the innovation and productivity of organizations in a world where talentism is the dominant economic system. Every day, ManpowerGroup connects more than 630,000 people to work and builds their experience and employability through its relationships with 400,000 clients across 80 countries and territories. ManpowerGroup’s suite of solutions is offered through ManpowerGroup™ Solutions, Manpower®, Experis™ and Right Management®. ManpowerGroup was named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the third consecutive year in 2013, confirming our position as the most trusted brand in the industry. See how ManpowerGroup makes powering the world of work humanly possible at www.manpowergroup.com. Follow ManpowerGroup Chairman and CEO Jeff Joerres on Twitter: Twitter.com/manpowergroupjj

SOURCE ManpowerGroup