Kelly Services Inc (NASDAQ: KELYA) is a workforce solutions company that places temporary and permanent workers across specialized professional disciplines. It earns revenue by billing client employers a rate that covers worker pay, benefits, and a margin for Kelly's placement and management services. The company has restructured around specialty segments: Kelly Professional & Industrial, Kelly Science Engineering & Technology (SET), Kelly Education, KellyOCG (Outsourcing & Consulting), and Kelly International. Strategic acquisitions disclosed in the 10-K filed 2026-02-12 include Teachers On Call, NextGen, Softworld, RocketPower, Pediatric Therapeutic Services, Motion Recruitment Partners, and others, deepening presence in education, technology, and outsourced talent programs. Kelly divested its Persol Holdings stake in 2022 and its EMEA staffing operations in 2024, narrowing the portfolio toward higher-margin specialties. The company also claims to have established the staffing industry's first Managed Service Provider program in 1996.

Revenue model

Transactional staffing margin: Kelly bills client employers for placed workers at rates exceeding worker compensation costs, capturing a spread. Outsourcing and consulting engagements through KellyOCG generate fees for managing contingent workforce programs (MSP) on behalf of clients.

Products and services

Temporary and permanent staffing placement; Managed Service Provider (MSP) programs; Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) via RocketPower; specialized staffing in science, engineering, and technology (SET); education staffing and substitute teacher placement (Teachers On Call, Pediatric Therapeutic Services); IT staffing (NextGen, Softworld, Motion Recruitment Partners); executive search (Greenwood/Asher & Associates).

Customers and end markets

Employers seeking contingent and permanent workers across professional, industrial, scientific, engineering, technology, and K-12 education end markets. MSP clients outsource full contingent workforce management to KellyOCG.

Value-chain role

Intermediary between employers and workers. Kelly sources, screens, and places talent, then manages payroll and compliance obligations, sitting between labor supply and employer demand.

Geographic exposure

Primarily domestic U.S. operations following the 2024 divestiture of EMEA staffing operations. Kelly International segment remains but scope is not quantified in the available filing excerpts.

Source: SEC 10-K, filed 2026-02-12

Industry: Services-Help Supply Services Peers: Barrett Business Services Inc Skillsoft Corp Hirequest Inc Robert Half Inc HEIDRICK & STRUGGLES INTERNATIONAL INC HireRight Holdings Corp Kforce Inc TrueBlue Inc Mastech Digital Inc Upwork Inc