Spherion[1] is a North American temporary work agency headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, that operates under a variety of brand names.
Spherion was first known as City Car Unloaders, a Chicago[2][3] company created by Leroy Dettman and Joseph Perfetto in 1946.[4][5] They initially placed manual laborers in temporary jobs loading cargo. Filling temporary clerk jobs was a service the company only later added. [6]
The company relocated from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale in 1969.[5]
By 1978, the firm was doing business as Personnel Pool of America, Inc, and was acquired by H&R Block.[5] In 1991, H&R Block acquired Interim Systems Corporation and combined it with Personnel Pool, creating a larger staffing services firm.
In 1992, the company changed its name to Interim Services Inc., and was spun off by H&R Block in 1994. Interim [7] acquired a number of other companies over the next few years.
The company, which changed its name to Spherion in 2000,[8] was acquired by Randstad NV in July 2011.[9][10]
Spherion has done business under a variety of brand names. The following brands are more or less current: Emerging Workforce, The Mergis Group,[11][12] SFN Group, Sourceright Solutions,[13] Spherion, Spherion Recruitment Process Outsourcing,[14] Spherion Staffing Services,[15] Tatum,[15][16] Technisource[15][17] Victor Temporary Services,[5] Professional Nurses Bureau,[5] and Today's Office Professionals.[18][15]
Cinda Hallman, a member of Spherion's board of directors beginning in early 1995,[19] replaced Raymond Marcy as chief executive officer in 2001, a role that Marcy had held for over a decade.[20] Rebecca Rogers Tijerino became the CEO of Spherion in January 2019. Rogers Tijerino left the company and was replaced by Kathy George in February 2024.[21]
An "acquisition spree" that began in 1994[22] led to Spherion's 1999 acquiring of an Atlanta-based rival, Norrell Corp. Part of Fort Lauderdale-based Spherion's board of directors wanted to move corporate headquarters to Atlanta, a conflict that ended when Marcy was replaced by Hallman in 2001.[20]
In 2001 Spherion made an initial public offering (IPO) of its London-based Michael Page Group, which it acquired in 1997. [23]
Spherion sold its Saratoga Institute to PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2003.[24]
