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“You know we are not an Employment Agency†: Manpower, Government, and the Development of the Temporary Help Industry in Britain

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  • Forde, Chris

Abstract

This article looks at the early development of the temporary help industry in Britain. It focuses on the activities of one of the largest suppliers of temporary workers, Manpower, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Drawing on material from The UK National Archives, the article examines Manpower's efforts to gain access as a genuine employer to the state employment exchange network to advertise their temporary vacancies. The article reveals the incremental changes in attitude within the government towards Manpower's activities and argues that this gave the company a competitive advantage over other employment agencies, facilitating their development of relations with the government and the trade unions in Britain over the 1970s and 1980s. The main conclusion of the article is that explicit attention needs to be paid to the actions and strategies of agencies themselves in order to develop an adequate understanding of the growth and development of the temporary help industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Forde, Chris, 2008. "“You know we are not an Employment Agency†: Manpower, Government, and the Development of the Temporary Help Industry in Britain," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 337-365, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:entsoc:v:9:y:2008:i:02:p:337-365_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Chris Forde & Robert MacKenzie, 2010. "The Ethical Agendas of Employment Agencies Towards Migrant Workers in the UK: Deciphering the Codes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 97(1), pages 31-41, December.
    2. Kim Hoque & Ian Kirkpatrick & Alex De Ruyter & Chris Lonsdale, 2008. "New Contractual Relationships in the Agency Worker Market: The Case of the UK's National Health Service," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 46(3), pages 389-412, September.
    3. Benjamin Hopkins & Chris Dawson, 2016. "Migrant workers and involuntary non-permanent jobs: agencies as new IR actors?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 163-180, March.
    4. Julie Rayner & Alan Lawton & Helen Williams, 2012. "Organizational Citizenship Behavior and the Public Service Ethos: Whither the Organization?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 106(2), pages 117-130, March.
    5. Wen Chen & Xiao-Jiao Song & Yanping Li, 2021. "Factors Affecting the Sustainable Development of HRS in Transforming Economies: A fsQCA Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.

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