Adecco acquires yet another company
Switzerland-based Adecco, the #1 staffing company in the world, just ever grew bigger with the purchase of German-based Deutscher Industrie Service AG (DIS) in an $826 million deal. DIS is #2 in the overall Germany staffing market, behind Dutch-based Randstad (#4 worldwide). DIS is the German leader in professional staffing.
There have been hundreds of acquisitions in this industry over the past ten years. Adecco has been a player in the acquisition market. It now has over 2,000 offices in 70 countries. The company itself is the result of a 1996 merger between two Swiss firms. Among the company's most recent acquisitions:
2005
Altedia, a French HR and career consulting firm
Humangroup, a Spanish staffing and outsourcing company with branches in Spain and Portugal
2004
Peopleone Consulting, an Indian staffing company
Sydelis, a French recruiting and staffing company
2002
Jobpilot, a European online recruiting service (sod in 2004)
2000
Olsten, a major US staffing company
Adecco believes, and we concur, that the world of work is changing, and that staffing companies are in a position to become an even more dominant force than they a re now. It's informative to read what they post on the site:
Corporate Harmonisation
Daily, more and more major international and `global' companies are embracing the `just in skills, just in time' Human Resources Solutions model to enhance productivity and gain competitive advantage.
The Orwellian term "corporate harmonization" hides the new reality for employment in the 21st century. That is, that all jobs are temporary; that everyone from workers to professionals will be constantly trying out for new positions, hat in hand; that corporations won't have to deal directly with messy things like older workers, benefits, pensions, accident compensation and so on. A prospect cheery to Adecco stockholders, no doubt, but one not very happy for those out-of-luck workers who have to pay "just in time" bills when their services are suddenly no longer needed.
