The recruitment industry has rallied round to help the thousands of victims of the tsunami disaster.

Agencies are already providing both administrative and financial aid to help the victims of the Boxing Day tragedy, which has claimed more than 150,000 lives, with 440 Britons feared dead.

As part of the aid effort, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), the umbrella organisation that co-ordinates the UK’s response to major overseas tragedies, is to receive a crucial extra pair of hands.

Kelly Services is set to pay for a worker to help staff at the DEC secretariat in central London.

Clare Francis, a spokeswoman for Kelly, said: “We will be paying for a top-level administrator to help the DEC team for six weeks. It’s a small organisation which is working round the clock to help the victims.”

Adecco, the world’s largest recruitment agency, has donated an initial €1m (£703,000). The firm will also use local management teams in India, Indonesia and Thailand to implement not-for-profit initiatives to help the local populations rebuild their shattered lives.

Adecco’s chief executive officer Jerome Caille said: “We would like to express our deepest sympathy for the victims of the tsunami, while also supporting the survivors with the compassionate effort of all our colleagues worldwide.”

And in a bid to get the whole industry involved in fundraising, Paul Farrer, chief executive of media recruitment firm PFJ, has initiated a ‘donate a fee’ appeal.

Farrer got in touch with Gareth Osborne, managing director of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), who has set up an appeal account for donations.

PFJ kicked off the appeal by donating £3,000. “The ‘donate a fee’ appeal is simple,” said Farrer. “Choose a token fee and donate it to the appeal. Trustees of the REC Charitable Trust will oversee the process and decide if the industry-wide donation will go to a major charity or a specific group helping people in the affected regions.”

Recruiters can email their pledge to [email protected] and send a company cheque to the REC, made out to REC (Tsunami Appeal) account at: REC (Tsunami Appeal), 4th floor, Albion House, Chertsey Road, Woking, Surrey, GU21 6BT.

The DEC fundraising appeal can be contacted at www.dec.org.uk or on 0870 6060 900.