William Russell Kelly - a Staffing Industry Pioneer

William Russell Kelly, the founder of Kelly, was a pioneer of the modern staffing industry and one of the earliest providers of temporary staff in the United States. After working throughout the war in procurement and logistics for the army, "Russ" turned to his life-long dream of owning his own business. In 1946 he invested his savings in Comptometers, the high tech calculating machines of the day, and typewriters and started "Russell Kelly Office Service" from a small office in Detroit Michigan. Russ's aim was to start a business where other organizations could bring their typing, mailing and general admin work to have them completed by his office staff.

Work soon came in at a steady and was completed in accordance with the business processes that Russ had set up. But a significant change for Russell Kelly Office Service took place when his very first customer came back needing a typist to work from its office for a few days, rather than bringing the work to the Kelly office.

In loaning out one of his permanent employees, Russ took an important step beyond the service bureau business. But at this point he did not see the dawn of anything new, just an additional service for a customer. He still saw the service bureau as his primary business.

However, the need for that "additional" service soon arose again. First it was a steel company that needed help with its payroll but was reluctant to send company records to an outside company. Kelly hired 13 women specifically to go to the steel company's offices to complete the project. Next came a call from a firm in Marysville, about 50 miles from Detroit. Fifty office workers were needed for an emergency. Russ responded by hiring 50 new employees specifically to do that job.

Russ began to realize that his business model needed to change. The post-war shortage of equipment to complete admin tasks was now beginning to fade, and more companies acquired the equipment they needed to complete these tasks in-house. As a result, Russ was called on to supply a growing number of workers to companies across Michigan. Kelly and its temporary staffing solutions thus took root.