Over the past few weeks, I’ve been updating SIA’s History of the Staffing Industry to reflect changes that have happened over the past decade. Originally published in 2017, this report traces the staffing industry from its origins all the way through to today. Its newest chapter, “Pandemic, remote working, platformization and Generative AI,” is a concise summary of what’s been happening since 2020.

An ongoing debate I’ve had with colleagues and others is which country should get the credit for creating the staffing industry — the US or UK. As an Englishman, I’m obviously biased in favor of the UK’s credentials for this title, but in truth, both countries had crucial roles to play in laying the industry’s foundations from the late 19th century onward.

Before the staffing business model was applied in a business-to-business context, there existed a thriving market for the supply of domestic staff to wealthy households in Victorian England. The earliest claimant to this foundational business was Sarah Williamson who, sometime prior to 1845, ran the King Street Registry, which supplied “local situations” for domestic staff. 

If we’re looking at B2B staffing, the American nominee for industry founder is usually credited as being Fred Winslow, who opened his Engineering Agency in 1893. The company later became part of General Employment, which is still headquartered in Naperville, Illinois. The American claim is matched by a British staffing business called J. Arthur Jarvis, founded by John Arthur Jarvis, also in 1893.

Another significant figure to recognize in our history is social reformer and charity campaigner Katharine “Kitty” Felton, who founded a staffing firm in response to the problems created by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

The Brits followed up with Alfred Marks who launched a specialist agency for catering staff in London in 1919. For many years, Alfred Marks was the most well-recognized UK staffing brand covering a wide range of industry segments and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1969 until its acquisition in 1977 by Swiss firm Adia — now Adecco.

Then, during the 1940s, a raft of American entrepreneurs established the modern industry as we recognize it today: Harold L. Yoh with the H.L. Yoh Co. in 1940; William “Russ” Kelly with Russell Kelly Office Service (now Kelly) in 1946; and Elmer Winter and Aaron Scheinfeld, co-founders of Manpower in 1948.

However, more recent research suggests that other countries might have earlier claims to the title than either the US or UK. It so happens that there are numerous historical examples of people receiving commissions in return for finding employment for others. For example, during the Roman Empire, individuals known as “sponsiones” acted as intermediaries between employers and workers, particularly in the construction industry. Sponsiones would recruit laborers for construction projects and receive compensation for their services. So, perhaps, Italy should be heralded as the forebear of our industry.

If the role of sponsiones sounds a little too informal, then consider the workforce intermediary service founded by Théophraste Renaudot, a French physician, philanthropist and journalist. Appointed as Commissary General of the Poor by Cardinal Richelieu, he opened the Bureau d’Adresse et de Rencontre in 1630, where prospective employers and employees could find each other. Renaudot was a busy man; he also initiated free medical consultations for the poor, founded the first weekly newspaper in France and set up the first pawnshop in Paris.

So influential was Renaudot’s work that, in 1650, Henry Robinson, an English merchant and religious dissenter, was inspired to found “The Office of Adresses (sic) and Encounters” on Threadneedle Street in London for “poor people to get speedy emploiment, and to keep others from approaching poverty, for want of emploiment”. Coincidentally, this office location is approximately 500 yards from SIA’s UK office where this article was written.

One thing we can all agree on is that we work in a global industry with global foundations. The modern staffing industry owes its success to a diverse group of international entrepreneurs. Read SIA’s History of the Staffing Industry report to find out more about these inspirational characters, their innovation and risk taking, and heart-warming personal stories.