Global recruitment specialist Morson Group has joined forces with REED as the official Northern Recruitment Partner in its ‘Keep Britain Working’ campaign, to lead the economic fightback against COVID-19.

REED first launched Keep Britain Working to preserve jobs and protect livelihoods after the financial crisis of 2008/2009. However, in light of the global emergency presented by COVID-19, it opted to relaunch the campaign.

Keep Britain Working supports the redeployment of workers from struggling sectors to in-demand ones, helps people who have lost their jobs find new ones, shares and implements the best ideas that will enable the country to keep working, and gets people back into employment.

Morson will lead the movement’s presence in the North to help match businesses with essential and key workers, to fill roles safely and in line with Government health advice. It will also spearhead the operation’s mission to identify and facilitate new roles for those who have found themselves out of work as a result of the pandemic, as the northern economy looks to rebuild.

Morson, which was established in Salford in 1969 and still holds its roots in the city 50 years on, specialises in technical sectors. With ministers having declared many live engineering, construction, manufacturing and rail sites and projects as essential, and with a growing network of more than 14,000 contractors across the UK, Morson is well placed to partner a skilled labour force with existing and new roles which open up as Britain emerges from complete lockdown.

To expand the service to additional sectors, it will welcome businesses with which it doesn’t currently work to upload details of job vacancies directly to its site – in an easily accessible portal that is set to go live over the coming weeks – which it will then recruit for, allowing leaders to focus their attentions on keeping organisations thriving during the pandemic.

Morson will also offer ‘Fit for Work’ – its early intervention technology, which identifies the first signs of the Coronavirus before workers attend site – to businesses to ensure those venturing back to employment are completely safe to do so. Launched just last month, the app is being rolled out across 3,000 essential workers and their employers to ensure they are attending work in line with governmental advice on Coronavirus.

Founded by CEO Ged Mason’s late father, Gerry Mason, Morson was launched as an innovative recruitment solution to meet end-to-end talent needs and demands. Sharing the same core values and family-orientated cultures, REED, which is now headed by CEO James Reed, was established by his father, Sir Alec Reed.

As the two largest family founded and owned recruitment companies around the globe, REED and Morson will now work together in an appeal for businesses to collaborate and provide a variety of routes to role filling. In particular, Morson is combining technology and its 50-year heritage in the recruitment sector to ensure the campaign is a success.

REED and Morson will encourage businesses and workers to make pledges to #KeepBritainWorking both during the crisis and beyond it. Keepbritainworking.com also features ideas, advice and resources to support companies and their workers through this difficult time, giving guidance on a variety of topics, and will connect businesses with a growing demand for workers with those considering furlough, redundancies or reduced hours.

Ged Mason, CEO of the Morson Group, said:

“We’ve provided our recruitment services during numerous recessions and labour market downturns, so while it is novel to be doing so during a pandemic – something many businesses don’t have a contingency for – we’ve done as we always do, and found innovative ways of matching skilled workers with roles when they need them most.

“Our approach has always been to nurture candidates, helping them leverage both their active and dormant skills and aptitudes to place them into a suitable role, and often this involves a non-linear career path. In this case, it will mean looking beyond the black and white of a CV to identify the right mix personality and working culture for a role in a sector which is seeing more demand than usual.

“This may mean a candidate stepping out of their comfort zone but will see them secure employment during a time when that is simply not a guarantee. Additionally, it will mean businesses will be partnered with candidates possessing skills they may never have previously considered as beneficial to their projects, but find themselves with the people they need to get the job done, and who want to play their part in rebuilding the economy.

“This campaign offers businesses the opportunity to work both collaboratively and creatively in order to deliver essential services and kick start growth during the economic recovery from Coronavirus, and we are proud to bring our key values to this initiative, in true partnership with REED.”

REED’s new digital offer on Reed.com launched this week to streamline and simplify end-to-end recruitment for both employers and candidates and help Keep Britain Working through this challenging time, which includes fast-tracking temporary employment opportunities.