COVID-19

ManpowerGroup hopes you, your friends and family are remaining safe and well. We have all played our part during this health crisis. Since March 2020, our teams have worked tirelessly to adhere to new policies and support front-line workers where we can. Although government guidelines have now been relaxed, we maintain a central taskforce which is committed to maintaining COVID-safe policies and procedures within our business and supporting our clients.

We have continually adhered to government guidelines to keep our colleagues and communities safe. As government measures ease, we are ensuring continuity of business for our clients by working with them on whatever measures they are maintaining. We continue to have critical frontline workers within our business supporting the supply of vital logistics and social care contracts. We also have numerous teams who play key roles in the employment of tens of thousands across the UK. We are still doing our very best  to offer ongoing support where it’s needed, translate the government policies and fill specific roles which are currently in much-needed demand.

The COVID-19 situation has evolved at speed and continues to develop day-to-day. We have created this page to help answer your questions. As a business we are also aware of our responsibility to the British workforce as the government guidance continues to be updated and we are monitoring the changing procedures closely. Our taskforce works closely with our global colleagues and takes learnings from around the world to ensure we are implementing the best possible solutions in response to the pandemic for our colleagues, candidates and clients.

Mark Cahill
Managing Director, ManpowerGroup UK

General information and useful links

As a business, we are monitoring the situation extremely closely and have created a UK based response team that feeds directly into the taskforces created by ManpowerGroup at both a regional and global level.

Please also continue to refer to the following websites for the latest information:

• Public Health England
  
• Public Health Scotland
  
• Public Health Wales
  
• Public Health Northern Ireland

ManpowerGroup has also joined forces with other industry leaders to create a HR services alliance. Together we endeavour to make a vital contribution to the process of preparing for the new normal and get businesses and economies running again; while adhering to local government guidelines as we prepare our people to return safely back to work when the time comes.

You can see the full report here.

What is the company doing in response to the COVID-19 outbreak?

• The safety, health and wellbeing of all our employees is a top priority. Our primary aim is to ensure that our employees remain fit and healthy. We have provided internal information for all our operational staff and are operating a phased return to offices as they open across the country.
  
• We have a Return to Work Taskforce and Champions for each of our locations to support on signage, PPE, social distancing and other health and safety practices as our offices open up.
  
• Should an outbreak occur, we have prepared contingency measures and protocols to ensure that client and candidate service is not impacted.
  
• When re-opening offices, we are following all government guidelines and protocols to ensure our people return to the workplace safely.

More information on Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

SSP is now available not just for those who are either unable to work through illness but also those who need to self-isolate due to COVID-19 and is available from the first day of absence from work due to COVID-19. For COVID-19 related absence (self-isolation and/or sickness), NHS 111 online now provides an ‘Isolation note’ and this should be provided instead of the usual fit note using the relevant candidate normal absence reporting process. However, those who are returning from abroad and are asked to quarantine are not eligible for SSP. Any other non-COVID-19 absence will require a relevant fit note in line with normal process.

What happens to our associates if our client closes their site or work ceases as a result of COVID-19?

We are committed to finding the best solution for our candidates/contractors in this situation and will discuss this with our clients. This could include working from home where possible or supporting them by other means.