Kelly Services outlined its "One Kelly" strategy at the 17th Annual Midwest IDEAS Conference on August 26, 2026, detailing a shift from a decentralized staffing model to an integrated approach aimed at maximizing share of wallet per client.
The Troy, Michigan-based company, which founded the staffing industry in 1946, operates through three main segments: Enterprise Talent Management (ETM), Science, Engineering and Technology (SET), and Education. ETM, the largest segment, accounts for roughly half of total business with gross margins near 20% and EBITDA margins of 2.6%. SET generates approximately $1.2 billion in revenue with gross margins of 25% and EBITDA margins of 5.5%, while Education, with about $1 billion in revenue, holds roughly 50% market share in substitute teacher outsourcing and targets 30% penetration in the pediatric therapy outsourcing market.
Kelly reported 2025 revenue of $4.3 billion to $4.5 billion, with gross margins just over 20%—a 200-basis-point improvement from the prior transformation period. EBITDA margins stood at 2.6% in 2025, down from the previous year due to reduced client demand, though management expects a 10-to-20-basis-point expansion in 2026. Debt has been reduced from approximately $240 million at the time of a mid-2024 acquisition to about $100 million currently. The company maintains an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and slowed share repurchases to $10 million in both 2024 and 2025 following $50 million in each of 2022 and 2023.
Leadership changes include the appointment of Chris Layden as CEO in September 2024 and Troy Anderson as CFO in October 2024. Hunt Companies acquired 92% of Kelly’s Class B shares in late January 2025, prompting a reconstituted 11-member board. The company completed CRM migration in June 2025 and finalized platform consolidation in December 2024, with plans to migrate all employees to a common human capital management platform by October 2025, followed by phased rollouts over two years.
Kelly ranks as the second-largest staffing company in the U.S. and the second-largest professional recruiting firm overall, according to Forbes. The company also holds a top position in total workforce solutions within ETM. CFO Anderson emphasized shareholder value creation and described AI disruption as an opportunity to collaborate with clients on more effective workforce management.
