As unemployment surpasses record highs due to COVID-19, a group of companies from multiple industries has formed People + Work Connect, an employer-to-employer initiative that brings together companies laying off or furloughing people with those companies in urgent need of workers. There is no cost for employers to join and participate.

People + Work Connect was designed by CHROs from Accenture, Lincoln Financial Group, ServiceNow and Verizon — and Accenture built the platform. From idea to launch in just 14 business days, the initiative is rapidly attracting a range of companies.

To date, participating companies include ADM, Baxter, Blue Apron, Cargill, Frito-Lay, Lincoln Financial Group, Marriott, Mondelēz International, Nordstrom, ServiceNow, Walmart and Zenefits. Additionally, more than 250 companies are expected to onboard over the next week, and the platform will soon add public sector jobs.

 Ellyn Shook, Accenture’s chief leadership and human resources officer, says People + Work has been able to scale the participation of companies due to the invaluable support and commitment to help put people back to work from Business Roundtable, Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies in the ILR School at Cornell University, Center for Executive Succession at the Darla Moore School of Business, Gallup and the CHRO Roundtable, HR Policy Association, Institute for Corporate Productivity, National Academy of Human Resources, Society for Human Resource Management and World50.

The business-to-business platform enables companies that are best positioned to rapidly share the experience and skills of their laid-off or furloughed workforces to connect at no cost with other companies on the platform that are seeking workers. The platform is global and cross-industry to maximize the ability to deploy people with similar skills in one industry into other industries where jobs are being created. 

Ultimately, this will shorten the complex, often lengthy cycle of unemployment for people, says Lisa M. Buckingham, executive vice president and chief people, place and brand officer for Lincoln Financial Group. The analytics-driven platform pools non-confidential and aggregated workforce information by categories such as location and experience.

For more information, visit: https://peopleworkconnect.accenture.com/welcome