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Kelly Services

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Kelly Services, Inc.
Formerly
  • Russell Kelly Office Service
  • Kelly Girl Service, Inc.
Company typePublic
NasdaqKELYA (Class A)
S&P 600 Component
IndustryProfessional services
Founded1946; 78 years ago (1946)
FounderWilliam Russell Kelly
Headquarters999 West Big Beaver Road, ,
United States
Areas served
  • North and South America
  • AsiaPacific
  • Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
Key people
Peter Quigley (president & CEO)[1]
Services
RevenueDecrease US$4.52 billion[3][4] (2020)
US$67 million[2] (2015)
Decrease US$−72 million[3] (2020)
Total assetsIncrease US$2.562 billion[3] (2020)
Total equityDecrease US$1.203 billion[3] (2020)
Number of employees
7,100[3] (2020)
Websitekellyservices.com

Kelly Services, Inc. (formerly Russell Kelly Office Service and Kelly Girl Service, Inc.) is an American office staffing company that operates globally.[2][5][6][7] The company places employees at all levels in various sectors including financial services, information technology, and law.[5] Also, its professional services include human resource and management consulting, outsourcing, recruitment, career transition, and vendor management.[2][5] Kelly Services was founded by William Russell Kelly in 1946 and is headquartered in Troy, Michigan.[2][8]

History

Founded in 1946 by William Russell Kelly, the company was originally named Russell Kelly Office Service.[9][10] Services were provided in-house at the Kelly office. However, as customer offices grew and needed more resources, they began to ask for the Kelly employees to perform the work at their own offices. Temporary workers from Russell Kelly Office Service soon became known as ‘Kelly Girls’.[11] Adelaide Hess Moran, the first Kelly temporary employee to work at a customer’s office, was promptly dubbed the first ‘Kelly Girl’.

The temporary workers, usually female, became known as "Kelly girls",[11] and the company name was changed to Kelly Girl Service, Inc. in 1957.[9] Eventually "Kelly girl" became a widely used term for a temporary worker, regardless of company affiliation or gender. By 1966, the company had expanded to include industrial and technical services divisions and was renamed Kelly Services, Inc.[12]

In 2008, Lynn Noyes was awarded $6.5 million in damages from Kelly Services for failing to promote her because she was not part of the Fellowship of Friends cult.[13]

In 2015, the company reported 8,100 employees, $5.5 billion in revenue,[2][5] making it one of the world's largest staffing firms.[14] In 2018, the company reported $5.5 billion in revenue.[4]

As of 2019, the CEO is Peter Quigley.[1]

In May 2024, Kelly Services acquired Motion Recruitment Partners for $425 million in cash.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Kelly Leadership". kellyservices.com.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "2015 Annual Report" (PDF). Kelly Services. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 11, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Kelly Services". Fortune. Archived from the original on 2019-10-28. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  4. ^ a b "Company Overview - About Us Kelly". kellyservices.com.
  5. ^ a b c d "United States Securities and Exchange Commission: Form 10-K". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  6. ^ Dutton, Jane E.; Heaphy, Emily (January 12, 2016). "We Learn More When We Learn Together". Harvard Business Review. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  7. ^ Melvin, Tim (March 8, 2016). "3 Staffing Firms to Get Worked Up About". TheStreet.com. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  8. ^ Murphy, Maxwell (December 21, 2015). "CFO Moves: Kelly Services, Pharm-Olam". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  9. ^ a b "William Russell Kelly Tribute". kellyservices.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-26. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  10. ^ Eaton, Leslie (1998-01-08). "William Kelly, 92, Founder Of Temporary Jobs Company". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
  11. ^ a b Hatton, Erin (2011). The Temp Economy: From Kelly Girls to Permatemps in Postwar America. Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1439900826. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
  12. ^ "History of Kelly Services, Inc. – FundingUniverse". fundinguniverse.com.
  13. ^ "Metz, Cade; Wakabayashi, Daisuke (16 June 2022). "How a Religious Sect Landed Google in a Lawsuit". The New York Times". The New York Times. 16 June 2022.
  14. ^ Wernau, Julie (November 25, 2014). "Kelly Services, DeVry partner to fill STEM gap". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  15. ^ Kelly Services Inc (2024-05-03). "Kelly Enters Agreement to Acquire Specialty Talent Solutions Company, Motion Recruitment Partners, LLC". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2024-05-03.