ManpowerGroup Inc. (MAN) Business

Item 1. Business

Introduction and History

ManpowerGroup Inc. is a global leader in innovative workforce solutions. Through our network of approximately 2,100 offices in more than 70 countries and territories, we put millions of people to work each year with our global, multinational and local clients across all major industry segments. Our strong and distinct brands provide specialized solutions that drive organizations forward, accelerate individual success and help build more sustainable communities. We power the future of work.

By offering a comprehensive range of workforce solutions and services, we help companies improve strategy, quality, and efficiency, increase productivity and reduce costs across their workforce to achieve their business goals. ManpowerGroup’s offerings of innovative workforce solutions and services include:

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Recruitment and Assessment – By leveraging our trusted brands, industry knowledge and expertise, we identify the right talent in the right place to help our clients quickly access the people and skills they need when they need them. Through our industry-leading and AI-enabled assessments, we help people and organizations understand their strengths and potential, resulting in better job matches, higher retention and a stronger workforce.

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Upskilling, Reskilling, Training and Development – Our global insights around evolving employer needs and our expertise in training and development help us prepare candidates and associates to succeed in today’s competitive marketplace. We offer an extensive portfolio of training courses and leadership development solutions that help clients maximize talent and optimize performance.

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Career Management – We help individuals find meaningful work and manage their career journey through outplacement services and targeted skills development. By helping individuals and organizations manage workforce transitions and career changes, we unleash human potential.

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Outsourcing – We provide clients with outsourcing services related to human resources functions primarily in the areas of large-scale recruiting and workforce-intensive initiatives that are outcome-based, thereby sharing in the risk and reward with our clients.

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Workforce Consulting – We help clients create and transform their workforce strategy to achieve their business strategy, increase business agility and flexibility, and accelerate individuals' and business success.

Our expert family of global brands - Manpower, Experis and Talent Solutions - provide innovative workforce solutions across the globe for hundreds of thousands of organizations every year.

Manpower is a global leader in contingent staffing and permanent recruitment, providing strategic and operational flexibility to organizations and connecting people to meaningful work while helping them develop skills to stay employable. With our data driven insight into people’s motivation, skills adjacencies, and performance potential, we provide learning programs, on the job training and market based certifications for rapid reskilling and upskilling at scale.

Experis is a global leader in information technology (IT) professional resourcing and project services specializing in Enterprise Applications, Business Transformation, Cloud and Infrastructure, Digital Workspace and Cyber Security. As digital transformation and skills shortages continue in the technology field, Experis provides talent with the combination of in-demand technical skills together with the soft skills that are critical for business success.

Talent Solutions Talent Solutions delivers integrated and data-driven workforce solutions to help clients more effectively attract, acquire, develop and retain qualified talent. Our lines of business — RPO, TAPFIN-MSP and Right Management — are seamlessly integrated with our PowerSuite™ HR tech stack to deliver workforce solutions that span the talent lifecycle across multiple countries at scale. The rapid expansion and application of AI across our enterprise is enhancing these offerings, making them increasingly predictive, precise and efficient.

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Our leadership position enables us to be a pathway to quality employment opportunities for people at all points in their career journey and we have connected people to meaningful work for over 75 years. Governments and policy makers in the markets where we operate look to us to provide employment advice, opportunities and training to assist the unemployed in gaining the skills they need to enter the workforce, providing a bridge to employment and helping build more sustainable communities.

We, and our predecessors, have been in business since 1948 when we were incorporated as a Wisconsin corporation, and have had our shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 1967.

Our website is www.manpowergroup.com. The Investor Relations section (investor.manpowergroup.com) provides our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, we also make available through our website:

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our amended and restated articles of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws;

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our ManpowerGroup code of business conduct and ethics;

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our corporate governance guidelines;

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our insider trading policy;

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our anti-corruption policy;

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the charters of the Audit, People, Culture & Compensation and Governance & Sustainability Committees of the Board of Directors;

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our guidelines for selecting board candidates;

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our categorical standards for relationships deemed not to impair independence of non-employee directors;

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our independent auditors' services policy;

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our executive officer stock ownership guidelines;

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our outside director stock ownership guidelines; and

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our regular updates on sustainability.

Documents available on the website are also available in print for any shareholder who requests them. Requests may be made by writing to Corporate Secretary, ManpowerGroup, 100 Manpower Place, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53212. We are not including the information contained on or available through our website as a part of, or incorporating such information by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our Operations

Client demand for workforce solutions and services is dependent on the overall strength of the labor market and secular trends toward greater workforce flexibility within each of the segments where we operate. Improving economic growth typically results in increasing demand for labor, resulting in greater demand for our workforce solutions and staffing services while demand for our outplacement services typically declines. During periods of increasing demand, we are generally able to improve our profitability and operating leverage as our cost base can support some increase in business without a similar increase in selling and administrative expenses.

Correspondingly, during periods of weak economic growth or economic contraction, the demand for our staffing services typically declines, while demand for our outplacement services typically accelerates. When demand drops, our operating profit is typically impacted unfavorably as we experience a deleveraging of our selling and administrative expense base as expenses may not decline at the same pace as revenues. In periods of economic contraction, we may have more significant expense deleveraging, as we believe it is prudent not to reduce selling and administrative expenses to levels that could negatively impact the long-term potential of our branch network and brands.

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Part I

The nature of our operations is such that our most significant current asset is accounts receivable, with a days sales outstanding of 55 days as of December 31, 2025. Our most significant current liabilities are payroll related costs, which are generally paid either weekly or monthly. As the demand for our services increases, we generally see an increase in our working capital needs, as we continue to pay our associates on a weekly or monthly basis while the related accounts receivable is outstanding for much longer, which may result in a decline in operating cash flows.

Conversely, as the demand for our services declines, we generally experience a decrease in our working capital needs, as the existing accounts receivable are collected and not replaced at the same level, resulting in a decline of our accounts receivable balance, with less of an effect on current liabilities due to the shorter cycle time of the payroll related items. While this may result in an increase in our operating cash flows, longer payment terms and timing of payroll, tax and supplier related payments significantly impact our cash positions and cash flows each period. Any increase in operating cash flows from an economic slowdown would not be sustained in the event that a downturn continues for an extended period.

Due to our industry’s sensitivity to economic factors, the inherent difficulty in forecasting the direction and strength of the economy and the short-term nature of staffing assignments, it is difficult to forecast future demand for our services with certainty. As a result, we monitor a number of economic indicators, as well as recent business trends, to predict future revenue trends for each of the countries and territories where we operate. Based upon these anticipated trends, we determine what level of personnel and office investments are necessary to take full advantage of growth opportunities.

During the last several years, secular trends toward greater workforce flexibility have impacted the demand for our innovative workforce solutions and services around the world. As companies attempt to increase the variability of their cost base, the workforce solutions we provide help them to effectively address the fluctuating demand for their products or services. As the global economy continues to grow and adapt with new technology, we are helping clients manage their workforce transformation and ensure they have the right skills now and in the future. Whether it is through workforce assessments, targeted training or by creating longer-term development paths, we help organizations and candidates adapt their skills to changing workforce needs.

Our portfolio of recruitment services includes permanent, temporary and contract recruitment of professionals, as well as administrative, industrial and IT professional positions. These services are provided under our Manpower and Experis brands. We have provided services under our core Manpower brand for over 75 years with a primary focus on the areas of office and industrial services and solutions. Our Talent Based Outsourcing offering within our Manpower brand includes outcome-based solutions such as management of financial and administrative processes, including call center and customer service activities.

We provide IT resourcing and services under our Experis brand. Our experience and expertise allow us to accurately assess candidates’ workplace potential and technical skills to match them to the needs of our clients. We plan to continue to build our Experis brand and attract the talent our clients need as skills shortages arise or continue.

Our Talent Solutions brand specializes in the delivery of customized workforce strategies and new solutions and creating added value that addresses our clients’ complex global workforce needs. Through our RPO offering, we manage customized, large-scale recruiting and workforce productivity initiatives for clients through exclusive outsourcing contracts. We can manage a single element or all of a client's permanent recruiting and hiring processes, from job profiling to on-boarding, globally or in a single location. MSP services include overall program management, reporting and tracking, supplier selection and management and order distribution. The MSP and RPO offerings both provide specialty expertise in contingent workforce management and broader administrative functions. Our Right Management offering includes our career management services that have historically been counter-cyclical to our staffing services, which helps to offset the impact of an economic downturn on our overall financial results.

Americas

We provide services as Manpower, Experis and Talent Solutions through both branch and franchise offices. The Americas segment had 415 branch and 138 franchise offices as of December 31, 2025. In the United States, where we realized 63% of the Americas’ revenue, we had 286 branch and 127 franchise offices as of December 31, 2025, as well as on-site locations at clients with significant permanent, temporary and contract recruitment requirements. In Other Americas, the largest operations of which include Canada, Mexico and Colombia, we had 129 branch and 11 franchise offices as of December 31, 2025. We provide a number of central support services to our branches and franchises, which enable us to maintain consistent service quality throughout the region regardless of whether an office is a branch or franchise.

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Our franchise agreements provide the franchisee with the right to use the Manpower® service mark in a specifically defined exclusive territory. In the United States, franchise fees generally range from 2% to 3% of franchisee sales. Our franchise agreements provide that in the event of a proposed sale of a franchise to a third party, we have the right to acquire the franchise at the same price and on the same terms as proposed by the third party. We have exercised this right in the past and may do so in the future if opportunities arise.

Our Manpower and Experis operations provide a variety of workforce solutions and services, including permanent, temporary and contract recruitment, assessment and selection, and training. Our Talent Solutions operations provide a variety of workforce solutions offerings including RPO, MSP and Right Management. During 2025 in this segment, 91% of revenues were derived from our staffing/interim services, 3% from permanent recruitment services, 2% from outcome-based solutions and consulting and 4% from other services.

Southern Europe

We are a leading provider of permanent, temporary and contract recruitment, assessment and selection, training and outsourcing services throughout Europe. The Southern Europe segment had 1,174 branch and 5 franchise offices as of December 31, 2025. Our largest operations in this segment are in France (53% of the segment revenue) and Italy (22% of the segment revenue).

We conduct our operations in France as a leading workforce solutions and service provider through 634 branch offices as Manpower, Experis and Talent Solutions, and 169 branch offices under the name Supplay as of December 31, 2025. The employment services market in France calls for a wide range of our services including permanent, temporary and contract recruitment, assessment and selection, and training. The temporary recruitment market is predominantly focused on recruitment for industrial positions. During 2025 in France, 91% of revenues were derived from our staffing/interim services, 1% from permanent recruitment services, 6% from outcome-based solutions and consulting and 2% from other services.

In Italy, we are a leading workforce solutions and services provider. As of December 31, 2025, ManpowerGroup Italy conducted operations through a network of 212 branch offices. It provides a comprehensive suite of workforce solutions and services offered through Manpower, Experis or Talent Solutions, including permanent, temporary and contract recruitment, assessment and selection, training and outsourcing. During 2025 in Italy, 92% of revenues were derived from our staffing/interim services, 3% from permanent recruitment services, 3% from outcome-based solutions and consulting and 2% from other services.

Northern Europe

Our largest operations in Northern Europe are in the United Kingdom, the Nordics, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium providing a comprehensive suite of workforce solutions and services through Manpower, Experis, and Talent Solutions. Collectively, we operate through 237 branch and 2 franchise offices in this region.

In the United Kingdom, where we have the largest operation in this segment, we are a leading provider of workforce solutions and services. As of December 31, 2025, we conducted operations in the United Kingdom as Manpower, Experis and Talent Solutions through a network of 35 branch offices and also provided on-site services to clients who have significant permanent, temporary and contract recruitment requirements. In the United Kingdom, we also conduct operations as Brook Street Bureau PLC, or Brook Street. Its core business is secretarial, office and light industrial recruitment. Brook Street operates as a local network of branches and competes primarily with local or regional independents. Brook Street’s revenues are comprised of temporary and contract placements as well as permanent recruitment.

During 2025 in Northern Europe, 87% of revenues were derived from our staffing/interim services, 3% from permanent recruitment services, 7% from outcome-based solutions and consulting and 3% from other services.

APME

We operate through 111 branch and 7 franchise offices in the Asia Pacific Middle East (APME) region. The largest of these operations are located in Japan and India, which operate through branch offices. Our APME operations provide a variety of workforce solutions and services offered through Manpower, Experis and Talent Solutions, including permanent, temporary and contract recruitment, assessment and selection, training and outsourcing. During 2025 in this segment, 84% of revenues were derived from our staffing/interim services, 2% from permanent recruitment services, 12% from outcome-based solutions and consulting and 2% from other services.

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Part I

Competition

We compete in the employment services industry by offering a broad range of services, including permanent, temporary and contract recruitment, project-based workforce solutions, assessment and selection, training, career and talent management, managed service solutions, outsourcing, consulting and professional services.

Our industry is large and fragmented, comprised of thousands of firms employing millions of people and generating billions of United States dollars in annual revenues. In most areas, no single company has a dominant share of the employment services market. In addition to us, the largest publicly owned companies specializing in recruitment services are The Adecco Group and Randstad. We also compete against a variety of regional or specialized companies such as Recruit Holdings, Allegis Group, Kelly Services, Robert Half, Kforce, PageGroup, Korn/Ferry International and Alexander Mann. It is a highly competitive industry, reflecting several trends in the global marketplace such as the increasing demand for skilled people, employers’ desire for more flexible working models and consolidation among clients and in the employment services industry itself, as well as low entry costs for small firms wishing to compete in the industry, especially at the local level. We manage these trends by leveraging established strengths, including several of the employment services industry’s most recognized and respected brands; geographic diversification; size and service scope; an innovative product mix; recruiting and assessment expertise; and a strong client base. While staffing is an important aspect of our business, our strategy is focused on providing both the skilled employees our clients need and higher-value workforce management, outsourcing and consulting solutions.

Our client mix consists of both small- and medium-size businesses, and large national and multinational clients. Client relationships with small- and medium-size businesses are based on a local or regional relationship, and tend to rely less on longer-term contracts, and the competitors for this business are primarily locally-owned businesses. On the other hand, the large national and multinational clients, which comprised approximately 60% of our revenues in 2025, will frequently enter into non-exclusive arrangements with several firms, with the ultimate choice among them being left to local managers. As a result, employment services firms with a large network of offices compete most effectively for this business which generally has agreed-upon pricing or mark-up on services performed.

Legal Regulations

The employment services industry is closely regulated in most of the major markets in which we operate. Employment services firms are generally subject to one or more of the following types of government regulation:

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regulation of the employer/employee relationship between the firm and its temporary and contract employees;

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registration, licensing, record keeping and reporting requirements;

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substantive limitations on the operations or the use of temporary and contract employees by clients; and

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regulation that requires new or additional benefits and pay parity for our associates.

In many markets, the existence or absence of collective bargaining agreements with labor organizations has a significant impact on our operations and the ability of clients to use our services. In some markets, labor agreements are structured on an industry-wide, rather than company-by-company, basis. Changes in these collective bargaining agreements have occurred in the past and are expected to occur in the future and may have a material impact on the operations of employment services firms, including us.

In most countries, workforce solutions and services firms are considered the legal employers of temporary and contract workers. Therefore, laws regulating the employer/employee relationship, such as tax withholding or reporting, social security or retirement, health and other benefits, anti-discrimination and workers’ compensation, govern the firm.

In many countries, particularly in continental Europe and Asia, entry into the employment services market is restricted by the requirement to register with, or obtain licenses from, a government agency. In addition, a wide variety of ministerial requirements may be imposed, such as record keeping, written contracts and reporting. The United States, United Kingdom and Canada do not presently have any form of national registration or licensing requirement.

In addition to licensing or registration requirements, many countries impose substantive restrictions on the use of temporary and contract workers. Such restrictions include regulations affecting the types of work permitted, the maximum length of assignment, wage levels or reasons for which temporary and contract workers may be employed. In some countries, special taxes, fees or costs are imposed in connection with the use of temporary and contract workers. For example, temporary and contract workers in France are entitled to a 10% allowance for the uncertain duration of employment, which is eliminated if a full-time position is offered to them after assignment termination.

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Part I

Our outplacement and consulting services generally are not subject to governmental regulation in the markets in which we operate.

In the United States, we are subject to various federal and state laws relating to franchising, principally the Federal Trade Commission’s Franchise Rules and analogous state laws which impact our agreements with our franchised operations. These laws and related rules and regulations impose specific disclosure requirements. Virtually all states also regulate the termination of franchises.

Changes in applicable laws or regulations have occurred in the past and are expected in the future to affect the extent to which workforce solutions and services firms may operate. These changes could impose additional costs, taxes, record keeping or reporting requirements; restrict the tasks to which contingent workers may be assigned; limit the duration of or otherwise impose restrictions on the nature of the relationship (with us or the client); or otherwise adversely affect the industry.

Trademarks

We maintain a number of registered trademarks, trade names and service marks in the United States and various other countries and territories. We believe that many of these marks and trade names, including ManpowerGroup®, Manpower®, Experis®, Right Management®, Brook Street®, Jefferson Wells®, Supplay®, PowerSuite® and MyPath® have significant value and are materially important to our business. In addition, we maintain other intangible property rights. The trademarks have been assigned an indefinite-life based on our expectation of renewing the trademarks, as required, without material modifications and at a minimal cost, and our expectation of positive cash flows beyond the foreseeable future.

Employees

We had approximately 25,400 full-time equivalent employees as of December 31, 2025. In addition, we recruit millions of permanent, temporary and contract workers on a worldwide basis each year on behalf of our clients.

As described above, in most jurisdictions, we, as the employer of our temporary and contract workers or as otherwise required by applicable law, are responsible for employment administration. This administration includes collection of withholding taxes, employer contributions for social security or its equivalent outside the United States, unemployment tax, workers’ compensation and fidelity and liability insurance, and other governmental requirements imposed on employers. In most jurisdictions where such benefits are not legally required, including the United States, we provide health and life insurance, paid holidays and paid vacations to qualifying temporary and contract employees.

Human Capital

We Are a Workforce Solutions and Human Capital Company.

Human capital management is at the core of our business. Our purpose is to provide meaningful and sustainable employment and is rooted in our values: People, Knowledge and Innovation. Our 25,400 employees, spanning more than 70 countries, help improve the lives of approximately 485,000 workers daily by providing guidance, advice, assessments, coaching, upskilling, reskilling and pathways to long-term sustainable employment. These efforts support local economies by increasing employability and opportunity for the millions of lives that we reach each year.

Through our sustainability report Working to Change the World, we report progress on our People & Prosperity pillar, where we are focused on being Creators of Talent at Scale, championing diversity, and improving employability and prosperity. For over 75 years, we have developed global insights on the issues and trends impacting organizations and individuals in today’s fast changing world of work. Our own research and solutions, coupled with partnerships with clients and Non-Governmental Organizations (e.g. World Economic Forum, World Employment Confederation and Junior Achievement, among others), enable us to advance the global discussion around the future of work and future for workers. These include the impact of digitization and generative AI, the green transition and shift in in-demand skills, exacerbating talent shortages, and the increased need for reskilling and upskilling. Our most recent annual Talent Shortage Survey reported that 74% of companies cannot find the skilled workers they need.

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We Seek to Create Talent at Scale.

Our Manpower MyPath program is designed to deliver targeted upskilling at speed and scale to our Manpower associates in order to accelerate their employability at higher wage levels, while also growing the pool of in-demand talent for our clients. Through this program, Manpower recruiters provide personalized and data-driven guidance, development, training, and access to jobs especially in growth sectors including advanced manufacturing, information technology, supply chain and customer service. MyPath has impacted over 310,000 lives through 2025, and MyPath associates now represent 35% of our associate talent pool in MyPath certified countries, across over 15,000 clients and 12 markets.

We are also targeting the creation of IT talent through our Experis Academy. This accelerated development program features custom-designed curricula to upskill people into specialized roles that can meet the demand for cloud, infrastructure, business transformation and digital workforce skills. Paired with coaching and soft skills training, upon completion most Academy graduates receive a permanent job offer from our clients. Through the end of 2025, we have trained more than 4,500 developers while also bridging the skills gaps for more than 170 tech companies across approximately 20 countries.

We Are Focused on Strengthening Our Culture and Developing Our People.

Our Global Footprint

We have a global footprint, though our teams are managed locally: 33% of our people are in the Americas, 33% in Southern Europe, 16% in Northern Europe and 17% in Asia Pacific/Middle East.

Developing our People

We believe our success in creating value for individuals and organizations around the world will depend on our ability to leverage the potential of our own people. We are investing in our people to support both our strategic ambitions and their personal goals.

In 2025, we continued to broaden and deepen our investment through our Leadership Development Programs, incorporating the 3 E’s of our development philosophy: Education, Exposure and Experience.

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For our Future Leaders Program (FLP) that targets individual contributors wanting to take on their first managerial role, 121 employees are enrolled in this program in 2025 and a total of 1,166 employees have completed the program since its inception in 2019.

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For our Accelerated Leadership Program (XLP) that targets current managers ready to move into bigger or more complex roles, 25 employees will begin this program in 2026 - and a total of 101 employees have completed the program since it began in 2022. The program runs every even year; the last cohort took place in 2024 with 20 participants.

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For our Strategic Leadership Program (SLP) that focuses on senior leaders to prepare them to move into the Global Leadership team, 9 employees completed the program in 2025 out of 12 initially selected, bringing the total to 49 participants since its start in 2022. The program runs every odd year, and the next cohort will begin in 2027.

Upon completion of these programs, the majority of our participants have made positive leadership career moves.

Strengthening our Culture

We believe that all people deserve to feel safe, respected and able to thrive in the workplace. Our focus encompasses four areas of focus: (1) globally, support gender diversity at leadership levels; (2) locally, address a second dimension of diversity based on gaps or opportunities within a country; (3) culturally, foster an inclusive environment that supports our diverse workforce; and (4) societally, advance employment security for workers while promoting upskilling, well-being, flexibility and income opportunity.

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Our Board of Directors has exceeded 30% gender diversity for more than 10 years. As of December 31, 2025, 18% are racially diverse and 36% are non-US born. Our Executive Leadership Team, which reports directly to the CEO, is 30% women, 30% racially diverse and 70% non-US born. Our Global Leadership Team, the top 93 leaders in the company, is 40% women. Gender diversity across all our markets globally aligns to our values. We will continue to develop our talent across all markets and at all levels, including working to ensure that the gender diversity of our leadership is aligned to the representation of the organization. Diversity in our workplaces also means that we prioritize people’s health and wellbeing and have committed to flexible work models across the globe to attract, engage and retain our people. In several markets, we have launched initiatives and trained our managers to promote greater awareness of mental wellbeing. We see diversity as a strategic enabler of our business and therefore we are focused on actions to support our diverse organization, our culture and the impact we have on the communities we serve across the globe.

Additionally, encouraging active engagement among our workforce is important for nurturing a strong and inclusive culture. We believe regular pulse surveys offer valuable insights into employee sentiments, spanning various areas such as the effectiveness of our People & Culture strategy, leadership assessments, ethics, values, and developmental opportunities. Our Culture Matters initiative has been refined, and we incorporated these behaviors into Our Standards. Our business strategy guides our actions for achieving our goals, and the behaviors in Our Standards—Clarity, Care, and Grow— illustrate how we execute these strategies. We believe our global leaders should provide clarity to our people and our clients, care about themselves and others through our people practices, and make decisions that grow our business and ourselves. Our core belief is that for ManpowerGroup to be successful, each of us needs to be accountable to delivering on these at all levels of our organization.

In 2025, we conducted a global employee survey with over 19,000 staff participating, achieving a 73% response rate. Over 8,600 employees left nearly 13,000 comments to help leaders improve the employee experience at ManpowerGroup.