What changed in this filing

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Item 1. Business

2023-02-15 compared with 2022-02-16 · 143 added, 139 removed, 87 unchanged (76% of the section changed)

TrueBlue, Inc.

(the “company,” “TrueBlue,” “we,” “us” and “our”) is a leading provider of specialized workforce solutions that help clients achieve business growth and improve productivity.

(the “company,” “TrueBlue,” “we,” “us” and “our”) is a leading provider of specialized workforce solutions that help our clients improve productivity and grow their businesses.

We began operations in 1989 and are headquartered in Tacoma, Washington.

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• PeopleReady offers general, industrial and skilled trade staffing throughout the United States of America (“U.S.”), Canada and Puerto Rico.

• PeopleScout offers recruitment process outsourcing (“RPO”), talent advisory services and managed service provider (“MSP”) solutions to a wide variety of industries, primarily in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.

• PeopleManagement offers contingent, on-site industrial staffing and commercial driver services throughout the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

• PeopleScout offers recruitment process outsourcing (“RPO”) and managed service provider (“MSP”) solutions to a wide variety of industries, primarily in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.

PeopleReady provides access to qualified associates through a wide range of staffing solutions for on-demand contingent general and skilled labor.

PeopleReady connects people with work in a broad range of industries that include construction, manufacturing and logistics, warehousing and distribution, retail, waste and recycling, energy, hospitality and general labor.

PeopleReady helped approximately 94,000 clients in fiscal 2021 be flexible and more productive by providing easy access to dependable, contingent labor.

Through our PeopleReady business segment, we connected approximately 220,000 people with work in fiscal 2021.

We have a network of 619 branches across all 50 states in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

Augmenting our branch network is our industry-leading mobile app, JobStack TM , which connects people with work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

JobStack creates a virtual exchange between our associates and clients, and allows our branch resources to expand their recruiting, sales and service delivery efforts.

JobStack is competitively differentiating our services, expanding our reach into new demographics, and improving our service delivery and work order fill rates, as we continue to execute our digital strategy.

PeopleManagement provides recruitment and on-site management of a facility’s contingent industrial workforce.

Through this business segment, we connected approximately 60,000 people with work in fiscal 2021.

In comparison with PeopleReady, services are larger in scale and longer in duration, and dedicated service teams are located at the client’s facility.

We provide scalable solutions to meet the volume requirements of labor-intensive manufacturing, warehousing and distribution facilities.

Our dedicated service teams work closely with on-site management as an integral part of the production and logistics process, managing all or a subset of the contingent labor for a facility or operational function.

Our on-site staffing solutions provide large-scale sourcing, screening, recruiting and management of the contingent workforce at a client’s facility in order to achieve faster hiring, lower total workforce cost, increase safety and compliance, improve retention, create greater volume flexibility, and enhance strategic decision-making through robust reporting and analytics.

Our On-Site business includes our Staff Management | SMX (“Staff Management”) and SIMOS Insourcing Solutions (“SIMOS”) branded service offerings, which provide hourly and productivity-based (cost per unit) pricing options for industrial staffing solutions.

Client contracts are generally multi-year in duration.

PeopleReady connected approximately 220,000 people with work in fiscal 2022 within a broad range of industries that include construction, transportation, manufacturing, retail, hospitality and renewable energy.

We connected individuals looking for general temporary, temp-to-hire and skilled trade positions with our vast network of clients.

In fiscal 2022, PeopleReady provided approximately 83,000 clients with dependable access to qualified associates for their on-demand, contingent general and skilled labor needs to supplement their permanent workforce.

Our services range from providing one associate to hundreds, and are generally short-term in nature as they are filling the contingent staffing needs of our clients.

We have a network of approximately 600 branches across all 50 states in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

Augmenting our branch network and consolidated service centers is our industry-leading mobile app, JobStack TM , which connects people with work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

JobStack creates a digital exchange between our associates and clients, and allows our branch resources to expand their recruiting, sales and service delivery efforts.

JobStack is competitively differentiating our services, expanding our reach into new demographics, and improving our service delivery and fill rates, as we continue to execute our digital strategy.

Our PeopleScout business, a global leader in RPO services, connected approximately 335,000 people with work in fiscal 2022.

Our RPO solutions are multi-year in duration, highly scalable and provide clients the support they need as their hiring volumes fluctuate.

We tailor our services based on individual client needs, including sourcing, screening, hiring and onboarding, to improve the candidate experience and regulatory compliance, and ultimately lower their recruiting costs.

Our proprietary technology platform (Affinix TM ) uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to rapidly source a qualified talent pool within minutes rather than days, and further engages candidates through a seamless digital experience.

Affinix provides real-time insights into our clients, helping our dedicated service delivery teams efficiently and effectively manage the entire recruitment process.

Client contracts are generally multi-year in duration and pricing is typically composed of a fee for each hire and talent consulting fees.

Pricing is impacted by factors such as geography, volume, job type, degree of recruiting difficulty, and the scope of outsourced recruitment and employer branding services included.

PeopleScout also includes our MSP business, which manages our clients’ contingent labor programs including vendor selection, performance management, compliance monitoring and risk management.

As the client’s exclusive MSP, we have dedicated service delivery teams, which work as an integrated partner with our clients to increase the productivity of their contingent workforce program.

PeopleManagement connected approximately 56,000 people with work in fiscal 2022.

Our On-Site business provides and manages contingent associates at clients’ facilities through our Staff Management | SMX (“Staff Management”) and SIMOS Insourcing Solutions (“SIMOS”) branded services.

Our client engagements are generally multi-location and multi-year, and include scalable recruiting, screening, hiring and management of the contingent workforce.

Once operational, we deploy dedicated management and service teams that work side-by-side with a client’s full-time workforce.

Our teams are an integral part of the production and logistics process, and specialize in labor-intensive manufacturing, warehousing and distribution.

We offer hourly and productivity-based (cost-per-unit) pricing options for industrial staffing solutions.

The productivity-based pricing leverages a strategically engineered on-site solution to incentivize performance improvements in cost, quality and on-time delivery using a fixed price-per-unit approach.

Both hourly and productivity-based pricing are impacted by factors such as geography, volume, job type and degree of recruiting difficulty.

PeopleManagement also provides dedicated and contingent commercial truck drivers to the transportation and distribution industries through our Centerline Drivers (“Centerline”) brand.

Centerline delivers drivers specifically matched to each client’s needs, allowing them to improve productivity, control costs, ensure compliance and deliver improved service.

PeopleManagement also provides dedicated and contingent commercial drivers to the transportation and distribution industries through our Centerline Drivers (“Centerline”) brand.

Centerline matches drivers to each client’s specific needs, allowing them to improve productivity, control costs, ensure compliance and deliver improved service.

Centerline offers three solutions for clients:

Our Flexible Drivers solution, which is an on-demand service helping clients find drivers where and when they need them;

our Driver Management Services solution, which offers fully outsourced recruitment and management of drivers for a client, including recruitment, management and supervision;

our Driver Management Services solution, which offers fully outsourced recruitment, management and supervision of drivers for a client;

and our Mobile Drivers solution, which provides short-term relocation of qualified, experienced drivers for special projects or to high-need markets or remote locations where drivers are unavailable.

Through our PeopleScout business segment, we connected approximately 335,000 people with work in fiscal 2021.

PeopleScout provides RPO services that manage talent solutions spanning the global economy and talent advisory capabilities supporting total workforce needs.

We are recognized as an industry leader for RPO services and have proven experience in major industries and a variety of positions.

PeopleScout solutions are highly scalable and flexible, which allows for outsourcing of all or a subset of skill categories across a series of recruitment, hiring and onboarding steps.

Our programs deliver improved talent quality and candidate experience, faster hiring, increased scalability, lower cost of recruitment, greater flexibility and improved regulatory compliance.

We leverage our proprietary technology platform (Affinix TM ) for sourcing, screening and delivering a permanent workforce, along with dedicated service delivery teams to work as an integrated partner with our clients.

Affinix uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to rapidly source a qualified talent pool, creating an initial slate of candidates for a job posting within minutes rather than days.

Client contracts are generally multi-year in duration and pricing is typically composed of a fee for each hire and talent consulting fees.

Pricing is impacted by factors such as geography, volume, job type, degree of recruiting difficulty, and the scope of outsourced recruitment and employer branding services included.

PeopleScout also includes our MSP business, which manages our clients’ contingent labor programs including vendor selection, performance management, compliance monitoring and risk management.

As the client’s exclusive MSP, we have dedicated service delivery teams, which work as an integrated partner with our clients to increase the productivity of their contingent workforce program.

INDUSTRY AND MARKET DYNAMICS

The staffing industry, which includes our PeopleReady and PeopleManagement services, supplies contingent workforce solutions to minimize the cost and effort of hiring and managing permanent employees.

The staffing industry, which includes our PeopleReady and PeopleManagement businesses, supplies contingent workforce solutions to minimize the cost and effort of hiring and managing permanent employees.

This allows for rapid response to changes in business conditions through the ability to replace absent employees, fill new positions, and convert fixed or permanent labor costs to variable costs.

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Work assignments vary widely in duration, skill level and required experience.

The staffing industry is large and highly fragmented with many competing companies.

No single company has a dominant share of the industry.

Staffing companies compete both to recruit and retain a supply of associates, and to attract and retain clients who will employ these associates.

Client demand for contingent staffing services is dependent on the overall strength of the economy, specific industry

and sector performance, and workforce flexibility trends.

This creates volatility for the staffing industry based on overall economic conditions.

Historically, in periods of economic growth, the number of companies providing contingent workforce solutions has increased due to low barriers to entry, whereas, during recessionary periods, the number of companies has decreased through consolidation, bankruptcies or other events.

PeopleReady and PeopleManagement are leaders in industrial staffing services.

The human resource outsourcing industry, which includes our PeopleScout services, involves transitioning various functions handled by internal human resources and labor procurement to outside service providers on a permanent or project basis.

Human resource departments are faced with increasingly complex operational and regulatory requirements, increased candidate expectations, an expanding talent technology landscape, and pressure to achieve efficiencies, which increase the need to migrate non-core functions to outsourced providers.

The human resource outsourcing industry includes RPO and MSP solutions, which allow clients to more effectively find and engage high-quality talent, leverage talent acquisition technology and scale their talent acquisition function to keep pace with changing business needs.

PeopleScout is a leader in RPO and MSP services.

The human resource outsourcing industry includes our RPO and MSP businesses, which allow clients to more effectively find and engage high-quality talent, leverage talent acquisition technology and scale their talent acquisition function to keep pace with changing business needs.

Our workforce solutions address the following key industry and market trends contributing to anticipated growth:

• Workforce flexibility and scalability:

The staffing industry continues to experience increased demand in relation to total job growth as demand for a flexible workforce continues to grow with competitive and economic pressures to reduce costs, meet dynamic seasonal demands and respond to rapidly changing market conditions.

The staffing industry continues to experience dynamic shifts between the permanent and flexible workforce based on competitive and economic pressures to reduce costs, seasonal demands and in response to rapidly changing market conditions.

Providers in the human resource outsourcing industry can add significant scalability to a company’s recruiting and hiring efforts, including accommodating seasonal, project or peak hiring needs without sacrificing quality.

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Available associates are in high demand and have more power to find the employment situation they desire.

As competition for qualified candidates increases, clients are relying on service providers to elevate the employer brand, build talent communities, create a world-class candidate experience, leverage innovative talent technology, and facilitate effective recruitment marketing and candidate communication strategies.

As competition for qualified candidates increases, clients and their outsourced service providers are leveraging innovative talent technology to improve the recruiting process and efficiently hire more qualified candidates.

Additionally, talent technology continues to elevate the employer brand, build talent communities, create a world-class candidate experience, and facilitate effective recruitment marketing and candidate communication strategies.

BUSINESS STRATEGY

Our business strategy is focused on growth in each of our business segments by investing in innovative technology and initiatives that drive organic growth and improve the client and candidate experience.

Our clients have a variety of challenges in running their businesses, each of which are unique to the competitive pressures of their industry.

Our business segments are industry leaders dedicated to staffing solutions tailored to our clients’ needs and the industries in which they operate.

Our clients have a variety of challenges in running their businesses, each of which are unique to the competitive pressures of their industries.

Our business segments are industry leaders dedicated to workforce solutions tailored to our clients’ needs and the industries in which they operate.

We ensure our differentiated solutions keep pace with the changing needs of our clients while driving growth through the following strategies:

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Our technological innovations make it easier for our clients to do business with us, and easier to connect associates with work opportunities and candidates to permanent employment opportunities.

We continue to make significant investments in online and mobile apps to improve the access, speed and ease of connecting our clients with high-quality contingent and permanent employee workforce solutions.

We continue to make significant investments in technology to improve the access, speed and ease of connecting our clients with high-quality contingent and permanent employee workforce solutions.

◦ Augmenting our PeopleReady branch network is our JobStack platform, which connects our associates and clients through a real-time 24 hours a day, seven days a week digital exchange with an easy-to-use mobile app.

JobStack enables our branches to expand their recruiting and sales efforts, while allowing centralized service centers to better manage the recruiting, onboarding and service delivery efforts.

JobStack enables our branches to expand their recruiting and sales efforts.

JobStack is helping to competitively differentiate our services, expand our reach into new demographics, and improve both service delivery and work order fill rates as we continue to execute our digital strategy.

Currently 97% of PeopleReady’s associates use JobStack to find on-demand work.

During 2021, we introduced new functionality allowing clients to enter hours and associates to approve hours directly in the app, which eliminates manual processing and accelerates the payroll process.

We introduced JobStack to

our clients in 2018, and by the end of 2021 over 29,000 of our clients were using JobStack to place orders for associates, rate their performance, and approve their time worked, an increase of 13%, compared to the prior year.

During fiscal 2021, PeopleReady dispatched approximately 3.4 million shifts via JobStack and achieved a digital fill rate of 58%, compared to approximately 2.9 million shifts and a digital fill rate of 53% in the prior year.

We are focused on driving growth in the number of heavy client users of JobStack.

A heavy client user is a client who has 50 or more touches (for example, entering an order or rating a worker) on JobStack per month.

Heavy client users have consistently posted better year-over-year growth rates compared to all other PeopleReady clients.

Our heavy client user mix increased to 48% of PeopleReady’s U.S.

on-demand business in 2021 from 29% in 2020.

By the end of 2022, over 30,000 of our clients were using JobStack to place orders for associates, rate their performance, and approve their time worked, an increase of 2% compared to the prior year.

During fiscal 2022, PeopleReady associates completed approximately 3.4 million shifts dispatched via JobStack, which represented 64% of all completed shifts.

In fiscal 2021, 58% of completed shifts were dispatched via JobStack.

We continue to expand functionality to further leverage this technology to transform our business by reducing expenses, accelerating revenue growth and enhancing our client and associate retention.

◦ Augmenting our PeopleManagement dedicated on-site contingent workforce management is Stafftrack ® .

Stafftrack is a proprietary hiring and workforce management software that enables us to recruit and connect the best candidates with on-site assignments.

Stafftrack has robust, real-time analytics that drive dynamic supply chain and workforce strategies, which allow clients faster, more precise hiring and help drive operational improvements and efficiencies.

The Stafftrack associate mobile app provides associates the ability to search for a job, view their schedules, pick-up shifts and receive real-time notifications.

We continue to expand functionality within Stafftrack to further enhance our client and associate experience.

◦ Augmenting our PeopleScout dedicated service delivery teams is our Affinix platform used for sourcing, screening and delivering a permanent workforce to our clients.

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We continue to invest in Affinix to further improve our ability to quickly and efficiently source the most attractive talent at the best price.

◦ Augmenting our PeopleManagement dedicated on-site contingent workforce management is Stafftrack ® .

Stafftrack is a proprietary hiring and workforce management software that enables us to recruit and connect the best candidates with on-site assignments.

Stafftrack has robust, near real-time analytics that drive dynamic supply chain and workforce strategies, which allow clients faster, more precise hiring and help drive operational improvements and efficiencies.

The Stafftrack associate mobile app provides associates the ability to search for a job, view schedules, add shifts, receive real-time notifications, and earn perks through our Stafftrack Rewards program, which incentivizes associates for perfect attendance and referrals.

We continue to expand functionality within Stafftrack to further enhance our client and associate experience.

◦ Our Centerline Mobile app provides our drivers with access to information on-the-go including schedules, pay information, job extension requests and access to our Respect the Drive driver engagement program, which tracks milestone accomplishments for hours worked.

We continue to expand and build functionality within the mobile app to enhance the overall driver experience.

• We continue to evaluate opportunities to expand our market presence for specialized blue-collar staffing services, expand our geographical reach, provide a broad range of general staffing services, and dispatch our associates without the use of a physical location within our branch network.

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Our business segments offer complementary workforce solutions with unique value propositions to meet our clients’ demands for talent.

• Our RPO services leverage our strong brand and innovative technology for high-volume sourcing and dedicated client service teams for connecting people to opportunities.

We have a track record of helping our clients reduce the cost of hiring, add significant scalability to recruiting and hiring, and access numerous sources to quickly find the best talent, thereby delivering a better outcome for the client.

• Our RPO business continues to leverage our strong brand and innovative technology for high-volume sourcing and dedicated client service teams for connecting people to opportunities.

We will continue to focus our sales and marketing efforts to reach new clients as the demand for outsourced recruiting support increases.

• Our MSP business is focused primarily on managing the contingent labor programs of domestic, middle-market companies with a growing dependence on contingent labor.

This enables our clients to efficiently source, engage, fulfill, measure and manage all categories of contingent and externally-sourced labor.

We are uniquely positioned to manage the full range of our clients’ labor needs.

Our clients range from small and medium-sized businesses to Fortune 100 companies.

During fiscal 2021, we served approximately 95,000 clients in industries including construction, energy, manufacturing and logistics, warehousing and distribution, waste and recycling, energy, transportation, retail, hospitality and general labor.

Contingent staffing services

The staffing industry is large and highly fragmented with large publicly-held companies as well as privately-owned companies on a national, regional and local level.

No single company has a dominant share of the industry.

We compete primarily with local and regional companies, as well as internet-based companies providing a variety of flexible workforce solutions.

The strongest staffing services competitor in a particular market is a company with established relationships and a track record of meeting the clients’ needs.

The most significant competitive factors are price, ability to promptly fill client orders, success in meeting clients’ expectations of recruiting qualified associates, quality of client and associate technology tools, and appropriately addressing client service issues.

Staffing companies compete both to recruit and retain a supply of associates, and to attract and retain clients who will utilize these associates.

Client demand for contingent staffing services is dependent on the overall strength of the economy, specific industry and sector performance, and workforce flexibility trends.

This creates volatility for the staffing industry based on overall economic conditions.

Competitive forces have historically limited our ability to raise our prices to immediately and fully offset the increased costs of doing business, some of which include increased associate wages, workers’ compensation costs, unemployment insurance and health care.

We believe we derive a competitive advantage from our service history, our specialized approach in serving the industries of our clients, and our mobile apps, which connect associates with jobs and create virtual exchanges between our associates and clients.

Our PeopleReady JobStack and PeopleManagement Stafftrack mobile apps are helping to competitively differentiate our services, expand our reach into new demographics, and improve our recruiting, sales and service delivery.

Our national presence, industry specialization, investment in technology, and proprietary systems and processes, together with specialized programs focused on worker safety, risk management, and legal and regulatory compliance are key differentiators from many of our competitors.

Human resource outsourcing

Our strongest competitors are companies who specialize in RPO services, as well as companies who offer broader human resource outsourcing solutions, which include RPO services.

No single provider dominates the market.

Competition also includes companies that choose to perform recruiting in-house.

The most significant competitive factors for RPO services are the ability to attract top talent, reduce cost per hire, improve retention, deploy best-in-class technology solutions and improve employment branding.

Important factors for success in RPO services include the ability to add significant scalability to a client’s recruiting and hiring efforts, including accommodating seasonal and irregular hiring;

the ability to increase efficiency by standardizing processes and facilitating transitions for candidates and employees;

and the ability to source the most attractive talent at the best price.

Our tailored solutions, client partnerships, proprietary technologies and service delivery are key differentiators from many of our competitors.

Our clients range from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies.

During fiscal 2022, we served approximately 84,000 clients in industries including construction, manufacturing and logistics, warehousing and distribution, waste and recycling, energy, transportation, retail, hospitality and general labor.

Our ten largest clients accounted for 19.2% of total revenue for fiscal 2022, 17.2% for fiscal 2021 and 19.0% for fiscal 2020.

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No single client represented more than 10.0% of total company revenue for fiscal 2022, 2021 or 2020.

CYCLICAL AND SEASONAL NATURE OF OUR BUSINESS

The workforce solutions business has historically been cyclical, often acting as an indicator of both economic downturns and upswings.

Clients tend to use a contingent workforce to supplement their existing workforce and generally hire permanent employees when long-term demand is expected to increase.

As a consequence, our revenue from services tends to increase quickly when the economy begins to grow.

Conversely, our revenue from services decreases quickly when the economy begins to weaken and contingent staff positions are eliminated, permanent hiring is frozen, and turnover replacement diminishes.

Our business experiences seasonal fluctuations for contingent staffing services.

Demand is lower during the first and second quarters, due in part to limitations to outside work during the winter months and slowdown in manufacturing and logistics after the holiday season.

Demand for contingent labor peaks during the third quarter for outdoor work and the fourth quarter for manufacturing and logistics, warehousing and distribution, and retail for the holiday season.

Our working capital requirements are primarily driven by our associate payroll and client accounts receivable.

Since receipts from clients lag payroll to associates, working capital requirements increase substantially in periods of growth.

HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

We believe our success depends on our ability to attract, develop and retain talented employees.

Our employees

We believe our success as a company depends on our ability to attract, develop and retain talented employees.

The skills, experience and industry knowledge of our employees significantly benefit our operations and performance.

As of December 25, 2022, we employed approximately 6,500 full-time equivalent (“FTE”) employees.

We have approximately 5,000 FTE employees in North America, of which approximately 95% are in the U.S., 300 FTE employees in Europe, and 1,100 FTE employees in Asia Pacific.

We have approximately 4,900 FTE employees in North America, of which approximately 96% are in the U.S., 1,200 FTE employees in Asia Pacific, and 400 FTE employees in Europe.

None of our permanent employees are represented by a labor union.

We have not experienced work stoppages and believe that our employee relations are in good standing, as evidenced by our semi-annual employee engagement survey results.

Our Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) regularly receives reports regarding the progress on our key human capital initiatives.

Our Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors regularly receives reports regarding the progress on our key human capital initiatives.

These reports inform discussions regarding the development, retention and engagement of our employees.

Some of our key human capital management initiatives are discussed below.

Values and ethics

Our commitment to certain core values are what we believe attract and more importantly retain individuals who live these values.

Our values are:

• Be Optimistic – We believe there is a solution to every problem.

By being innovative and working together, we can find new ways to get results.

• Be Passionate – We believe in what we do, are committed to doing good, and will go above and beyond the call of duty for our clients and workers.

• Be Accountable – We empower our people to take personal responsibility and make an impact.

• Be Respectfu l – We listen and learn from each other, embrace diverse views and experiences, and know that finding successful solutions comes from working together.

• Be True – We are true to who we are and what our clients need.

In addition to our values, our Code of Conduct & Business Ethics (the “Code”) describes the expectations we hold for each employee, from our commitment to treat each other kindly to our zero tolerance for fraud, bribery or corruption.

It reflects who we are, how we work, and is based on our core values and the law.

The Code applies to members of the Board of Directors (the “Board”), officers and all other employees who work for TrueBlue and its affiliates worldwide.

We require all of our employees to complete our Code training, as well as courses about sexual harassment awareness and prevention.

Culture and engagement

We believe a strong corporate culture and employee engagement is key to attracting and retaining talented employees.

To assess and improve our culture, we routinely utilize an independent third-party to measure how favorably our employees view our organizational culture and engagement.

These surveys include corporate culture assessments, as well as real-time feedback on employee engagement and employee-management relations.

We believe a strong corporate culture includes an emphasis on employee engagement.

As we have continued to utilize a hybrid work model, we have utilized live and recorded video town hall meetings to ensure employees throughout the company remain engaged, connected to leadership, and focused on our values and business strategies.

To assess and improve our culture, we utilize an independent third-party to measure how favorably our employees view our organizational culture and engagement.

These surveys include corporate culture assessments, as well as feedback on employee engagement and employee-management relations.

The results of these surveys are reported and distributed throughout management and the Board, and are used to create actionable plans to improve employee engagement and retention.

Our October 2021 survey achieved an all-time high engagement score of 78, which is an increase of 4 points from our September 2020 survey, and continues to exceed the benchmark of 67 set by the independent survey provider.

Our October 2022 survey achieved an engagement score of 78, consistent with our October 2021 survey, which exceeds the benchmark score of 75 set by the independent third-party survey provider.

Developing our people

In order to continually attract and retain talented employees, we focus on personal development and career growth through our Full Performance program.

Our Full Performance program for employees focuses on career planning and development, continuous learning, and the creation of internal career opportunities.

We provide a range of training courses to our employees to enable more effective onboarding, work performance, compliance and advancement of corporate initiatives.

This strategy supports our intent to foster a culture that enables all employees to realize their full professional potential and cultivates a qualified bench of future leaders.

In order to retain talented employees, our Full Performance program focuses on personal development and career growth through setting and monitoring performance goals, continuous learning, and the creation of internal career opportunities.

Employees create individual development plans, identify specific skill gaps and development goals, and chart a path for career growth.

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This standardized process also ensures employees in similar positions are similarly evaluated.

Health, safety and wellness

We provide our employees and their families with flexible health and wellness programs, including competitive benefits.

Our benefits include health, dental and vision insurance, health savings and flexible spending accounts, paid time off, family leave, and family care resources.

Beginning in 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic (“COVID-19”), we implemented significant changes to ensure the health and safety of our employees.

These changes included an investment in the technology necessary to allow the majority of our support center employees to work from home and a reimbursement for certain expenses associated with moving to home-based work.

Through the distribution and provision of necessary personal protective equipment, the continuing use of education and awareness, and changes to our operating processes, we are working to ensure our offices remain open and a safe place for our employees.

To support employee growth, we provide access to a wide range of training courses to enable more effective onboarding, work performance, compliance and advancement of corporate initiatives.

This strategy supports our intent to foster a culture that enables all employees to realize their full professional potential and cultivates a qualified network of future leaders.

During 2022, our employees completed nearly 37,000 training courses.

Supplementing our Full Performance program, we launched an enterprise-wide Global Mentorship Program in 2020.

The program is designed to pair mentees with mentors based on a common area of interest for personal and professional development.

In 2022, we introduced the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion stream, which gave employees the opportunity to be paired based on alignment with common personal characteristics.

Diversity, equity and inclusion

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Our Chief Executive Officer and executive team are committed to having opportunities and a career path for everyone in the organization.

To strengthen this commitment, in January 2021, we hired a Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion who reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer.

Our philosophy on diversity, equity and inclusion is to create an environment where every employee can experience merit-based career growth, receive the training and development they need to succeed, gain access to new opportunities, and be their authentic selves.

Today, 67% of our Board is comprised of members from under-represented groups.

As of December 26, 2021 approximately 66% of the global FTE employee population was female and approximately 50% of employees in positions at the senior management level and above were female.

Of our total domestic FTE employee population, approximately 45% consider themselves ethnically diverse.

While we believe we have assembled a diverse internal employee workforce, we are committed to making further improvements.

We have a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council (the “Council”) which designs and launches initiatives that advance acceptance and inclusion.

The Council reports regularly to executive leadership, who brief our Board periodically through the year.

The Council also sponsors training to build diversity and inclusion awareness, and supports Employee Resource Groups (“ERGs”), which are employee-led groups that create opportunities for employees to collaborate based on shared characteristics or life experiences to support each other for enhanced career and personal development.

Our Chief Diversity Officer leads the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council (the “Council”).

The Council is a group of employees across multiple service lines who design and launch initiatives that advance acceptance and foster a diverse and inclusive workplace.

The Council sponsors training to build diversity and inclusion awareness, and supports our Employee Resource Groups (“ERGs”).

ERGs are employee-led groups that create opportunities for employees to collaborate based on shared characteristics or life experiences to support each other for enhanced career and personal development.

ERGs seek to maximize employee engagement and contribute to our overall business objectives by offering diverse perspectives, networking opportunities and increased cultural awareness.

We currently have eight ERGs for employees sharing similar ethnicity, nationality, gender, lifestyle choice or life experience and their respective allies.

We have eight ERGs for employees sharing similar ethnicity, nationality, gender, or life experience and their respective allies.

Through these initiatives, we learn how our differences build stronger teams and how our histories reveal similarities.

Associates are the people we put to work for our clients.

In 2022, we launched live unconscious bias training for employees facilitated by our Chief Diversity Officer.

Our focus on diversity, equity and inclusion creates an environment where every employee can experience merit-based career growth, receive the training and development they need to succeed, gain access to new opportunities, and be their authentic selves.

Today, 75% of our Board is comprised of members from under-represented groups.

As of December 25, 2022, approximately 65% of our global FTE employee population and 50% of our directors and above were female.

Approximately 50% of our total domestic FTE employee population and 20% of our directors and above consider themselves ethnically diverse.

While we believe we have assembled a diverse internal employee workforce, we are committed to making further improvements.

Health and wellness

We provide our employees and their families with flexible health and wellness programs, including competitive benefits.

Our benefits include health, dental and vision insurance, health savings and flexible spending accounts, paid time off, family leave, and family care resources.

Our associates

Associates are the individuals who make up our contingent workforce to serve the needs of our staffing clients.

We attract our pool of associates through our proprietary mobile apps, online resources, extensive internal databases, advertising, job fairs, community-based organizations and various other methods.

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We believe that our programs and methods enable us to offer a higher quality of service by increasing productivity, decreasing turnover, reducing absenteeism and improving associate safety.

Skill development

Associates come to us because of the flexibility we offer to fill a short-term financial need and/or provide longer-term contingent flexible labor opportunities.

Associates may be assigned to different jobs and job sites, and their assignments could last for a few hours or extend for several weeks or months.

We act as a bridge to permanent, full-time employment for thousands of associates each year.

Associates may be assigned to different jobs and job sites, and their assignments could last for a few hours or extend for several months or years.

We provide our associates meaningful work and the opportunity to improve their skills.

We provide a bridge to permanent, full-time employment for thousands of associates each year.

Through our Bridges to Work program, we provide work opportunities for individuals that have been under-represented in the workforce, such as the long-term unemployed or those with challenging backgrounds.

Through our Work-Up program, we provide skills training and career development for associates.

We are considered the legal employer of our associates, and laws regulating the employment relationship are applicable to our operations.

We believe we have an overall positive relationship with our associates.

We remain focused and committed to associate safety.

We have developed an integrated risk management program that focuses on loss analysis, education and safety improvement programs to reduce the safety risks that may be encountered by our associates.

We remain committed to associate safety.

We have developed an integrated risk management program that focuses on loss analysis, education and safety improvement programs to reduce the risk of injury to our associates.

We designed an employee incentive compensation program tied to metrics that promote associate safety.

We continuously track injuries to our associates at our client job sites across regions, industries and brands to identify trends that allow us to focus our safety resources on the types of jobs that may lead to more injuries.

We distribute educational materials to our clients and associates, and perform client site visits to address specific safety risks unique to their industry or job site.

In this unprecedented environment due to COVID-19, we have provided masks for all our associates, distributed infrared thermometers for branches and job sites, established a resource center for staff, and implemented drive-in job fairs to reduce person-to-person contact.

Contingent staffing services

The staffing industry is large and highly fragmented with large publicly-held companies as well as privately-owned companies on a national, regional and local level.

No single company has a dominant share of the industry.

We compete primarily with local and regional companies.

We also experience competition from internet-based companies providing a variety of flexible workforce solutions.

The strongest staffing services competitor in a particular market is a company with established relationships and a track record of meeting the clients’ needs.

Competition exists in attracting clients as well as qualified associates.

The most significant competitive factors are price, ability to promptly fill client orders, success in meeting clients’ expectations of recruiting associates, and appropriately addressing client service issues.

Human resource outsourcing

Our strongest competitors are companies who specialize in RPO services, as well as companies who offer broader human resource outsourcing solutions, which include RPO services.

No single provider dominates the market.

Competition also includes internal human resource departments that are not considering outsourcing.

The most significant competitive factors for RPO services are the ability to attract top talent, reduce cost per hire, improve retention, deploy best in breed technology solutions and improve employment branding.

Important factors for success in RPO services include the ability to add significant scalability to a client’s recruiting and hiring efforts, including accommodating seasonal and irregular hiring;

the ability to increase efficiency by standardizing processes and facilitating transitions for candidates and employees;

and the ability to source the most attractive talent at the best price.

Our tailored solutions, client partnerships, proprietary technologies and service delivery are key differentiators from many of our competitors.

We own several trademarks that are registered with the U.S.

Patent and Trademark Office, the European Union Community Trademark Office and numerous individual country trademark offices.

CYCLICAL AND SEASONAL NATURE OF OUR BUSINESS

The workforce solutions business has historically been cyclical, often acting as an indicator of both economic downturns and upswings.

Clients tend to use a contingent workforce to supplement their existing workforce and generally hire permanent employees when long-term demand is expected to increase.

As a consequence, our revenue from services tends to increase quickly when the economy begins to grow.

Conversely, our revenue from services decreases quickly when the economy begins to weaken and contingent staff positions are eliminated, permanent hiring is frozen and turnover replacement diminishes.

Our business experiences seasonal fluctuations for contingent staffing services.

Demand is lower during the first and second quarters, due in part to limitations to outside work during the winter months and slowdown in manufacturing and logistics after the holiday season.

Demand for contingent labor peaks during the third quarter for outdoor work and the fourth quarter for manufacturing and logistics, warehousing and distribution, and retail for the holiday season.

Our working capital requirements are primarily driven by our associate payroll and client accounts receivable.

Since receipts from clients lag payroll to associates, working capital requirements increase substantially in periods of growth.

Our services are subject to a variety of complex federal and state laws and regulations.

Costs associated with accidents are charged to each branch or location, providing additional incentive to promote safety.

We distribute educational materials to our clients and provide safety training to all associates.

We also perform client site visits to identify and address specific safety risks unique to an industry or job site.

Our services are subject to a variety of complex federal, state, and foreign laws and regulations.

We continuously monitor legislation and regulatory changes for their potential effect on our business.

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Regulatory cost increases are passed through to our clients to the fullest extent possible.

We own several trademarks that are registered with the U.S.

Patent and Trademark Office, the European Union Community Trademark Office and numerous individual country trademark offices.

AVAILABLE INFORMATION

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The SEC also maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov.

Our Corporate Governance Guidelines, Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and Board Committee Charters are also posted to our website.

Our Corporate Governance Guidelines, Code of Conduct and Business Ethics and Board Committee Charters are also posted to our website.

The information on our website is not part of this or any other report we file with, or furnish to, the SEC.

Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business