Manpower wins HR Excellence Award ‘Best Staffing & Sourcing Company’ for the third consecutive year

The 13th HR Excellence Awards ceremony recognised the best Belgian HR providers of the year after a rigorous process. A panel of HR experts selected the most innovative projects and strategies across 12 categories from companies that were ‘considered industry role models’ in a survey of 1500 HR professionals. The jury’s verdict, which counted for 70%, was weighted by public votes from the HR community (30%). Manpower Belgium won the Award ‘Best Staffing & Sourcing Company’ for the third consecutive year with its ‘Talent Knows No Border’ project, which provides an innovative response to structural talent ur shortages by promoting mobility within the European Union.

 Winning this award for the third year in a row is an enormous source of pride for all our teams. The project presented this year is at the heart of Manpower’s purpose, which is to offer jobs and a bright future to all people on the job market, and in particular this year to refugees arriving from Ukraine. But beyond its societal dimension, our project demonstrates that the shortages that affect 80% of companies in Belgium are not inevitable. Our role as an HR service provider is to seek innovative solutions to increase the supply of skills and enable our clients to have the talent they need to ensure their growth.

Talent Knows No Border  

The project implemented by Manpower in Belgium illustrates one of the trends highlighted in the ManpowerGroup study ‘The New Human Age‘ presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Trend 13 ‘Talent knows no border’ explains that ‘everyone wants to hire locally, but the reality has become global’.  This is particularly true in the EU, where companies can take advantage of the free movement of workers, in accordance with Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, an opportunity that is still not used enough by our companies.

“EU citizens have the right to seek employment in another EU country, to work there without the need for a work permit, to reside there for that purpose, to remain there even after the employment has ended and to enjoy equal treatment with nationals as regards access to employment, working conditions and all other social and tax benefits.”

The dossier presented at the HR Excellence Awards consisted of two parts: the first one presents a solution for sourcing and activating candidates from Eastern European countries, the second one focuses on a tailor-made recruitment and international mobility project for the logistics sector.

Recruiting and activating talent from other nationalities and cultures

There are many untapped talent pools in the Belgian labour market. They offer a potential for overcoming talent shortages. Manpower’s Cross Border Connection project, which was launched in West Flanders when the free movement of workers from Eastern EU countries was introduced, aims to attract skilled workers from Eastern European countries or to activate nationals from these countries living in Belgium, whether they are Polish, Romanian or Estonian.  Through contact with the various communities, the Cross Border Connection team has built up a large pool of talent over the years in a number of technical operational skills to meet the needs of companies. Manpower’s team is made up of consultants from Poland, which allows it to offer a personalized service that, in addition to the

The Manpower team is made up of consultants from Poland, which makes it possible to offer a personalised service that, in addition to the sourcing and selection aspects, includes administrative and human resources assistance.  Everything is done to facilitate the integration of candidates into the job market and the companies where they work, starting with communication in their language when sourcing through social networks or in their community, coaching when they start work or additional services to help them with their day-to-day administrative procedures. At the same time, Manpower helps its clients build a diverse and inclusive workforce and currently has more than 250 FTEs at work from Eastern European countries, serving 189 clients from a wide range of sectors (food, concrete, metal, hospitality, etc.).

The Manpower team is made up of consultants from Poland, which makes it possible to offer a personalised service that, in addition to the sourcing and selection aspects, includes administrative and human resources assistance.  Everything is done to facilitate the integration of candidates into the job market and the companies where they work, starting with communication in their language when sourcing through social networks or in their community, coaching when they start work or additional services to help them with their day-to-day administrative procedures. At the same time, Manpower helps its clients build a diverse and inclusive workforce and currently has more than 250 FTEs at work from Eastern European countries, serving 189 clients from a wide range of sectors (food, concrete, metal, hospitality, etc.).

CSR and focus on Ukraine

With the recent hiring of a Ukrainian consultant living in Belgium, Manpower has been able to strengthen its societal commitment by activating Ukrainian refugee candidates.  The project, which is being carried out in partnership with Travi Oekraine Project  (the  training organisation of the  staffing industry in Belgium) and is supported by the Flemish Region, has already enabled around ten refugees to be put to work.

This is the case of Anna, who was living a harmonious life in Rivne (Ukraine) and working in the forestry sector as an executive secretary. Forced to flee with her children after the Russian invasion and having to leave her husband behind, she returned to Belgium. She came into contact with Manpower and now works as a production worker in a factory from the food industry in West Flanders. The work is not far from her home, and Anna benefits from the support of her colleagues and the coaching of the Manpower CBC team.

 Katoen Natie Project

The second project presented at the HR Excellence Awards was a recruitment project for Katoen Natie, one of the largest employers in the Port of Antwerp, which was looking for logistics talent with potential to take on leadership roles in the future.  Due to the difficulty in finding profiles on the Belgian market, Manpower set up an international recruitment and mobility solution in record time in partnership with Manpower Portugal. To achieve this, Manpower was inspired by another trend (Trend 3) highlighted in its report The New Human Age, namely that diplomas are no longer the only filter when selecting candidates, but that employers must focus above all on candidates’ potential, motivation and soft skills.

Technology has also been a valuable support throughout the recruitment process, including the PitchYou tool, a digital recruitment tool via WhatsApp, which facilitates communication with candidates and provides automatic and qualitative translations into the candidate’s language.

As with the CBC project, the human dimension is an integral part of the Manpower candidate experience, with great attention to detail. Manpower managed the candidates’ mobility from A to Z: air flights, reception at the airport, accommodation and personalised service to facilitate integration, including a friendly city tour of Antwerp!  168 candidates took part in the selection process and around twenty were able to start a job in Belgium.

ManpowerBelgium HR Excellence Award Business Case