Staffing Issues

Manpower Makes Fortune’s 500 Lists
With all of the bad press out today regarding corporations, it may be time to remember the positive side of corporate America. After all, there still are companies out there we should admire.

Therefore, it is worth noting Fortune magazine has again published its prestigious list of America’s Most Admired Companies in its March 4 issue. Each year, Fortune puts out the list, ranking U. S. corporations’ Most Admired winners, chosen from the l,000 largest U.S. companies ranked by revenues. More than 10,000 executives, directors and securities analysts rated companies in 58 separate industries.

Each company was evaluated in terms of innovation, quality of management, quality of products and services, long-term investment value, financial soundness, employee talent, social responsibility and use of corporate assets.

According to the magazine, which has compiled the America’s Most Admired list for 20 years, "history shows that a solid record of performance over many years will earn the business community’s esteem."

There are many representatives on the list that service the tri-County area, including a few from the temporary help industry. Let’s take a closer look.

This year, the top five corporations from the temporary help industry on the Most Admired list in order of rank are RHI (7.05 score), Manpower (6.92 score), Kelly (5.71 score), Spherion (4.41 score), and CDI (4.35 score).

Basically, Manpower and RHI were ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in each of the aforementioned categories. RHI ranked No. 1 in long-term investment value, quality of products and services, financial soundness, employee talent, and use of corporate assets while Manpower ranked No. 1 in innovation, quality of management and social responsibility.

In addition, Manpower was the only corporation from the group to also be named on both the Fortune 500 list and their Global 500 list.

What does this mean to central Illinois? The companies on this list are built on people, values and innovation, and it’s good for central Illinois to have them here. The community benefits from having corporations within the area that provide such high quality services.

It has been said before and is worth noting again: the same successful employment tools available in Los Angeles, New York or Chicago are also available here in central Illinois. These companies have brought their history of successes to central Illinois and have become an integral part of the economy. Some of the companies on this list have been providing these services to the area for nearly half a century.

When a company creates an enduring history within a community, it also provides a stable employment force to that community. In summary, couple the tools of industry leaders with strong local management and community involvement and the result is a win-win for central Illinois. IBI