Section 2 - FTSE

MANPOWER: A
WORLD OF SERVICES
From a company offering just one
service (office temps) and
operating in just two cities
(Milwaukee and Chicago),
Manpower has evolved into a
global leader in employment
services, including:
• Permanent, temporary and
contract employment, which
accounts for perhaps 95% of
revenues. The overwhelming
majority of these placements —
nearly 5m a year — are light
industrial and clerical workers, who
are placed through the Manpower
brand. A growing number are
professionals such as engineers,
accountants and sales executives,
who are placed through Manpower
Professional. Manpower does
almost no placement of part-time
workers, and long ago stopped
placing day labourers.
• Employee training, including
Manpower’s online Global
Learning Center, which offers
3,600 courses in several
languages. At any time, about
200,000 trainees are
participating.
• Outsourcing of the recruiting
function. Through its Manpower
Business Solutions operation,
Manpower acts as an
organisation’s recruiting office,
responsible for candidate
sourcing, screening, hiring and
orientation. Among its clients
F T S E G L O B A L M A R K E T S • J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 9
are Visteon, a US tier-one auto
parts company, and the
Australian Defence Force.
• Human resource consulting,
which is conducted largely
through Right Management, a
2004 acquisition. In essence,
Right — as this operation is
known within Manpower —
trains HR executives to perform
their jobs more effectively.
• Outplacement services for laid
off employees. Right is the
world’s largest provider of these
services, and recently
restructured its offerings and
placed them under the new
Right Choice brand (a name
that, to those using its services,
might seem bittersweet).
• Professional services in areas
such as internal controls, tax
planning, technology risk
management, finance and
accounting. These are offered
through Jefferson Wells, which
has a core group of full-time
professionals who are
augmented on a project basis by
temps from Manpower
Professional. In Europe,
Manpower’s Elan operation
provides informational
technology professionals.
Right Management and Jefferson
Wells are operated on a global
basis. In contrast, permanent and
temporary placement is managed
on a geographic basis.
Operationally, the entire company
is divided into seven operating
units: France is by far Manpower’s
biggest national market, generating
$7bn in revenues (34% of the
total for 2007) and $390m in
operating earnings. Revenues are
likely to be boosted in the next
year or two now that the French
government is allowed to use
temporary workers. Gaining on
France is Other Europe, Middle
East and Africa (Other-EMEA). As
CEO Joerres notes, this is a
descriptive but inelegant name for
an operating unit, especially one
that is growing smartly. Revenues
were $6.75bn and operating
earnings were $257m. Other
Operations is a catchall category
for countries not under any other
umbrella, mainly those in Latin
America (notably Mexico and
Argentina) and Asia (including
Japan, Singapore, India and China).
Revenues amounted to $2.6bn but
operating earnings were only
$73.5m, reflecting the relative
newness of many of these markets.
The US, Manpower’s original
market, now generates less than
10% of corporate revenues and
operating earnings, just under
$2bn and $80m respectively. In
the meantime, Italy’s 2007
revenues were $1.4bn, 7% of the
total, but operating earnings were
$104m, a princely 13% of the
total and greater than US
earnings. Manpower’s Right
Management subsidiary is a human
resources consulting firm that also
is a leader in outplacement
counselling. Revenues were
$410m (2%) and operating
earnings were $34.6m (4%) in
2007, reflecting the higher valueadded
nature of the business.
Jefferson Wells is Manpower’s
consulting arm, formed in 2001 and
as yet unprofitable. On revenues of
$332m, Jefferson Wells incurred a
loss of $5m in 2007.
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