Adecco's global Win4Youth team successfully finishes the Athens Classic Marathon

Athens, November 11, 2013. Yesterday’s Athens Classic Marathon was the highlight of Adecco’s Win4Youth programme 2013 – a global initiative aimed at supporting young people to better integrate into the labour market while fostering the engagement and values of Adecco Group’s 31,000 employees. Greece was chosen as the location for this year’s highlight event also out of solidarity with the country and its people, hard-hit by the global labour crisis.

Going back to the roots of this sports contest, the 75 Adecco runners from 39 countries ran the 42.1 km from the historic town of Marathon to Athens and successfully crossed the finish line. Holding high the Adecco values of team spirit, responsibility, entrepreneurship and customer focus. The finishers were welcomed by the whole Adecco Executive Committee, the Godmother of the Win4Youth programme, Florence Gravellier, the six-time French Champion in wheelchair tennis and twice Paralympic bronze medallist, Chairman Rolf Dörig and CEO Patrick de Maeseneire.

The Adecco team of ambassadors who competed in Athens represented their 31,000 colleagues worldwide who have been running and walking for Win4Youth throughout the year. This year’s goal was to cover at least 500,000 km to ensure a donation to the four selected foundations in Colombia, Italy, Thailand and Belgium. The goal was reached this autumn and was immediately upped to 600,000 kilometres by year-end.

Since the inception of the program in 2010, Win4Youth sports events have been organized in around 60 countries. They have been the vehicle for raising a Group donation to youth employment and development programmes around the world: A total of more than one million Swiss Francs will have been donated after the end of this year’s campaign. The supported foundations ensure that disadvantaged youngsters get a better start in life by being taught the skills that will improve their chances of finding work.

For more news on the programme, follow us on the Win4Youth Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/win4youth

Check out the Win4Youth programme on our global website:http://www.adecco.com/csr/win4youth.aspx

Win4Youth 2013 supports the following foundations:

In Colombia: http://juanfe.org/

In Italy: http://www.aiutareibambini.it/

In Thailand: http://a-chieve.org/

In Belgium: www.sos-villages-enfants.be/

For further information please contact: Adecco Corporate Press Office Press.office@adecco.com or +41 (0) 44 878 87 87

About Win4Youth  Adecco’sWin4Youth initiative, now in its fourth year, is a sports and skill development programme involving our employees, associates and clients worldwide. The main purpose of Win4Youth is to raise money for disadvantaged young people and improve their future chances of successfully entering the job market. At the same time, it allows Adecco employees to live the company’s values and keep fit. For every kilometre covered by an employee, associate or client, Adecco Group donates money to selected youth development projects around the world.

To date, the Adecco Group has made donations to foundations in India, France, Spain, USA, Haiti, Chile, Brazil, Philippines, Greece, China, Morocco, New Zealand and Belgium.