ManpowerGroup Latin America Analyst Event

ManpowerGroup Solutions held its first analyst event outside of the U.S. in Mexico City to focus on the fast-growing Latin America market which includes Mexico and Central America (MeCA), and South America. I must first say the hospitality extended to us by both the Latin America and U.S. ManpowerGroup teams present was the warmest I could have imagined.

The agenda included:

• Introduction to ManpowerGroup MeCA
• Talentism is the new capitalism: ManpowerGroup insights from the World Economic Forum
• The economic landscape in Mexico and Latin America
• ManpowerGroup priorities, progress, and perspectives
• The RPO and MSP market in MeCA
• Visit to ManpowerGroup client and ManpowerGroup office (particularly helpful to understand how jobs are advertised in Mexico)
• Labor and workforce demographics in South America
• ManpowerGroup brand, messaging, and target markets
• The global RPO COE
• Analyst perspectives on topics including: client readiness for global talent planning, client satisfaction, and ManpowerGroup strategies

With such an informative agenda, I’d be writing a small book if I tried to cover all the content, so I’ll focus on the client visit to KidZania. KidZania is a global organization with franchises in Mexico. It is opening its third office there by June, which we were able to visit. KidZania is focused on creating a live learning experience for kids that allows them to role-play adult activities including working different jobs, spending money, and even learning how to drive a miniature car after acquiring a permit. The facility is Disney-like, but better because adults are not allowed inside. ManpowerGroup also has its first job agency within KidZania, so kids can assess their skills and search for jobs available on computers.

ManpowerGroup Solutions began providing RPO services to KidZania in 2010 after the client was searching for an agile vendor that could provide a flexible workforce solution with a focus on talent. The client stated the following three primary objectives of which ManpowerGroup has exceeded its expectations:

• Find the right candidates fast
• Reduce time / cost of recruitment, including quickly scaling up and down to meet hiring needs
• Create the right culture among kids, parents, and collaborators.

I’ll revisit the Latin America market in a future blog, but for now I will say that although Mexico had one of its biggest recessions in 2008 – 2009, it has made a quick recovery, and is expected to create ~1.2m jobs this year. Mexico is about more than just outsourcing for labor arbitrage; it is about outsourcing for job skills where more than 100,000 engineers and technicians graduate every year from science and technology programs. Just last month, for example, Volkswagen’s Audi luxury-car unit announced that it will open its first North American factory in Mexico.

ManpowerGroup has more than 2,000 clients in MeCA and is present in 10 countries in South America. RPO is provided to both Mexican headquartered clients and U.S. MNCs with hiring needs in Mexico.

Gary Bragar, HRO Research Director, NelsonHall

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The Fertile Ground of HRO Innovation

Kelly Services’ recent announcement of its new Office of Innovation was fascinating as the company has long been a leader and innovator in the staffing services field. Go global, check. Provide MSP, check. Add RPO, check. Add consulting, check. Launch mobile access applications, check. Supply chain management, check. Its success shows in the results, with 2011 revenues totaling $5.6 billion, a 12% increase over 2010.

To find out more, I had a lively discussion with Kelly Services’ Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer Rolf Kleiner. Basically, Kelly Services has already done so much that it is focusing on new solutions and capabilities to remain ahead of the competition and keep up with its many Fortune 500 clients.

According to Kleiner, the company has always done well with the “little I” incremental innovations that improve and enhance its current services and capabilities. Kelly Services is also looking for new “big I” innovations, those that can move the needle on results and set precedents within the company and in the marketplace. It was felt that by adding more visibility and vetting larger scale opportunities, the Office of Innovation will be able to identify, develop, and bring new innovations to market faster.

Kleiner plans to set up a “pull” process for ideas that includes many stakeholder groups including employees, clients, suppliers, and other industry experts. He likened the process to farming. It will take working with the communities of interest on an on-going collaborative basis to develop a harvest of ideas.

There were several items I found especially interesting. One is using this effort as an opportunity for talent management. Some proof of concept and development projects will be managed by the Office of Innovation and will provide highly visible opportunities for those assigned. When projects are managed outside of the normal lines of business, integration and communications will be maintained which brings reality to planning and brings market needs and innovation participation deep into the infrastructure and culture of Kelly Services.

Also, there is a very crisp vision for the strategic initiative and clear criteria for the kind of innovation opportunities that are being sought. There is solid alignment with the goals of the company, scale for sizing market opportunities, and an openness to solutions that could include internal developments, partnerships, supplier networks, etc.

Finally, the selection of Kleiner as head of the Office of Innovation is a strong indication of Kelly Services’ seriousness with this endeavor. He reports directly to the CEO and his previous assignment was as Senior Vice President and General Manager for the KellyOCG group, which provides consulting and outsourcing services. The pulse of the market, the voice of the customer, and the operational beat of the business are all fresh and fertile ground for Kleiner’s new challenge.

Our NelsonHall HRO team always advises clients to look for service providers that can meet today’s needs as well as offer partnership for meeting the needs of tomorrow. How is your HRO vendor focusing on the future?

Linda Merritt, Research Analyst, HRO, NelsonHall

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