In a grassroots effort to enable its employees to make a difference personally if they choose, Manpower Inc. has encouraged its more than 27,000 permanent and 4.1 million temporary employees across 73 countries and territories to get involved and spread the ninemillion.org word in their local communities. By drawing on the large Manpower employee base - and the employees of all the partner companies in the ninemillion.org campaign - it is poised to make the maximum impact and contribute to the success of the campaign worldwide.

"We strive to be socially responsible in every aspect of our business and we focus our resources primarily on where we can have the most impact, connecting disadvantaged people to jobs, job training and education," said Jeffrey A. Joerres, Chairman & CEO of Manpower Inc.

To support the cause and raise awareness, Manpower operations worldwide are encouraged to first educate themselves about the world refugee crisis, the ninemillion.org campaign, and the lives of refugees that are attempting to repatriate into their local country. They can then determine how to create a program that will be appropriate and meaningful to their organization, such as engaging their local UNHCR office to determine how to create a workforce development for refugees coming into their country, hosting employee donation drives or fundraising and client events, and organizing outreach to clients and associates through their branch office network.

Manpower employees can support the cause by visiting www.ninemillion.org to educate themselves, donating via the web site, purchasing T-shirts and spreading awareness by encouraging others to do the same. Employees, their friends and families can also help ninemillion.org create an online community to share the commitment to making the education of these nine million refugee children a global issue by visiting nine-million.spaces.live.com and adding their comments to the live blog, creating their own space, and signing the guest book.

Initial feedback from Manpower employees regarding the ninemillion.org campaign has been extremely positive, with employees taking great pride in working for a company that takes a stand on significant social issues and provides a vehicle like ninemillion.org that can help build a bridge toward employment for everyone.

"The refugee problem is one that has no end in sight, but one in which Manpower can make a difference by helping to provide the education that children require in order to someday succeed in a world outside of the refugee camps," said Joerres.