For staffing and recruitment companies, the third quarter was a period of navigating economic uncertainties and leveraging strategic initiatives for growth. During earnings calls, Adecco Group AG, Randstad NV, ManpowerGroup Inc., Robert Half Inc., and Kelly Services Inc. highlighted their approaches to managing market challenges and capitalizing on emerging opportunities. Transcripts of the earnings calls were provided by Bloomberg. Here’s a breakdown of the key themes.
Increased optimism
All five companies have been navigating economic uncertainties, particularly in Europe and North America, where employers remain cautious about increasing their workforces. Despite these challenges, there are signs of stabilizing business confidence.
Robert Half’s president and CEO, M. Keith Waddell, said, “Business confidence levels are improving, aided by continuing progress on inflation and the beginning of a global rate-cutting cycle.” Similarly, Kelly Services’ president and CEO, Peter Quigley, said large enterprises are maintaining a cautious approach to workforce management by focusing on capturing market share and shifting their business mix toward higher-margin, more resilient solutions.
ManpowerGroup’s strategic focus on diverse geographic and client industries—such as IT, health care, life sciences, industrials, consumer goods and the public sector—helped the company mitigate the impact of economic uncertainties. This approach was echoed by Robert Half, which leveraged its industry-leading brand, technology, and unique business model to support its clients’ growth initiatives. Kelly Services has also seen organic revenue stabilization year-over-year for the second consecutive quarter.
Adecco Group faced difficult market conditions with a high comparison base from the previous year. Despite these challenges, the company saw volume trends stabilizing throughout the quarter. Denis Machuel, CEO of Adecco, said, “Overall, this is a solid revenue result considering challenging market conditions.”
Randstad also faced a challenging macroeconomic environment, with subdued trading conditions across many markets. Sander van ‘t Noordende, CEO of Randstad, said, “Trading conditions remain subdued across many of our markets.”
Strong labor markets
Despite economic headwinds, labor markets have remained resilient. Employers are prioritizing retaining and attracting workers with specialized, flexible skills to adapt to evolving requirements.
ManpowerGroup’s chairman and CEO, Jonas Prising, said, “We continue to see resilient topline trends with unemployment holding relatively steady in many places and little indication of widespread layoffs.”
Robert Half shared this sentiment. The company’s consulting division, Protiviti, posted strong sequential and year-over-year revenue gains, particularly in regulatory risk and compliance and internal audit solutions for financial services clients.
Kelly Services’ education division achieved another quarter of double-digit revenue growth, driven by strong fill rates and net new customer wins in the K-12 specialty. This growth underscored the company’s ability to capture market share and create durable revenue streams. The company’s focus on expanding higher-margin therapy specialties further supported revenue stability. These examples highlighted how the companies leveraged their strengths to position themselves for future growth.
Adecco has maintained a strong focus on operational discipline by balancing performance, field capacity and strategic investments. Coram Williams, CFO of Adecco, said, “The business is selectively protecting its sales and delivery capacity to capture growth opportunities and gain market share.” Similarly, Randstad is focusing on growth through specialization by allocating additional capacity to growth segments, including investments in skilled trade and operational talent solutions in Spain, health care and professional talent solutions in Australia, and digital talent solutions in Japan and Italy.
Tech innovation
All five companies emphasized the importance of strategic cost management and technological innovation to enhance productivity and service delivery.
ManpowerGroup has taken a surgical approach to managing costs, including restructuring and reducing operational expenses. Prising said, “We strive to optimize profitability and ensure that we have the talent, innovation and digital platforms to capture growth.”
Robert Half continues to invest in technology and innovation, with its proprietary AI strategy offering added value to clients. The recent enhancements to the Robert Half mobile app underscored the company’s commitment to leveraging technology for better outcomes.
Kelly Services’ omnichannel strategy in the professional and industrial business, which includes a network of physical branch locations and the Kelly Now mobile app, has helped the company with its goal of meeting clients and talent where they are. This strategy has contributed to sequential revenue stabilization and improvement, despite ongoing pressure on the demand for industrial and commercial staffing. The company’s advanced Helix technology platform, with AI-enabled market intelligence capabilities, has driven a steady pipeline of new business opportunities, positioning Kelly to benefit from positive momentum in its sales pipeline.
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Adecco is investing in digital transformation and AI integration to enhance its service delivery and client experiences. The company has introduced a new IT and digital roadmap, consolidating and simplifying its technology landscape. This includes shifting to one front office system, streamlining ERP technologies and implementing a single global web platform. Adecco is also expanding its global delivery solution and upgrading candidate interactions with digital tools. Machuel said, “We are accelerating AI adoption to enhance efficiency and productivity and investing in innovation.”
Randstad continues to focus on operational discipline. The company has reduced indirect costs and optimized support services to ensure efficiency.
The takeaway
The third quarter demonstrated the resilience and adaptability of leading staffing and recruitment companies in navigating economic uncertainties and leveraging strategic initiatives for growth. Adecco, Randstad, ManpowerGroup, Robert Half and Kelly Services are focusing on improved business confidence, strong labor markets, strategic cost management and technological innovation. Their approaches to managing market challenges and capitalizing on emerging opportunities highlighted their goal of delivering value to clients and stakeholders.
