page_title: ManpowerGroup
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: ManpowerGroup / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Former Manpower Inc. logo in use from 2006 to 2011. This logo became the Manpower brand logo with slight changes to color in 2011 when the company changed its name to ManpowerGroup
context_page_description: ManpowerGroup is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1948 by Elmer Winter and Aaron Scheinfeld, ManpowerGroup is the third-largest staffing firm in the world behind Swiss firm Adecco and Dutch firm Randstad. The company provides administrative & support services, professional services, and business services through its four primary brands: Manpower, Experis, Right Management, and ManpowerGroup Solutions.
context_section_description: 1948-1961: Founding and Expansion: Elmer Winter and his law partner Aaron Scheinfeld co-founded Manpower in 1948. The pair was inspired when they found themselves looking for secretarial help to file a brief on a tight deadline with the Wisconsin Supreme Court. They raised $7,000 and opened their first storefront in Milwaukee with the name Manpower suggested by a friend.
  In his book “A History of Manpower, Inc.® 1948-1976”, James D. Scheinfeld indicates that the idea for the company was, in fact, Aaron Scheinfeld's when at the close of World War II, he worked with a company on contracts to mothball military equipment and envisioned a temporary help service. By this account, in 1948 Scheinfeld conceived of Manpower, arrived at the name and early logo over lunch with friend and advertiser Marvin Frank, and invited Winter to invest as a minority stockholder and co-founder. The two incorporated the company in Delaware, and in June 1948 opened offices in downtown Milwaukee and Chicago.
  By 1952, Manpower had expanded in the US to Minneapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, New York, Pittsburgh, and Boston; in 1954, the company offered its first franchise; in 1956, the company went international with offices in Montreal, Toronto, and the UK; and in 1957, Manpower established operations in France.
  1961-1975: The White Glove Girl and Public Offering: The growing temporary employment category has been said to be a new category of work intentionally exempt from union protections. “To avoid union opposition, they developed a clever strategy, casting temp work as “women’s work,” and advertising thousands of images of young, white, middle-class women doing a variety of short-term office jobs.” In 1961, Manpower spent $1 million to place advertisements in Sunday papers across the country featuring their “White Glove Girls”. Winter described the company's strategy: "We chose white gloves as a symbol … because they seem to represent everything that is feminine, neat, and proper. They symbolize quality and efficiency.”  A 1962 advertisement from TIME features model Judy Newton who was the public face of Manpower in the 1960s as “The Girl in the White Gloves”. It cites Manpower's 240 offices in the US and Canada and 15 offices in Europe. It also specifies that the company offered the following divisions: Office Services, Industrial Help, Salespower, Inc., and Technical Services.
  In “The Temp Economy: From Kelly Girls to Permatemps in Postwar America”, Hatton posits that the images in these advertisements were carefully curated to be “respectable sex symbols” and very purposefully not displaying images of men or nonwhites and emphasizing that the White Glove Girls were “specially certified” as code for white & middle-class and not recent immigrants or black migrants. A 1964 advertisement claims that the White Glove Girl carries an official training certificate that she is trained in: adapting quickly to new office routine, advanced telephone technique, dictation technique, transcribing services, good filing technique, fine points of electric typing, care of office equipment, keeping work confidential, starting the work day right, office etiquette, wardrobe and grooming, and dealing with office emergencies. The ad bills Manpower as the world's largest temporary help service with over 300 offices globally.
  In 1962, Manpower went public, listing shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
  By 1967, Manpower advertising claimed the company has over 500 offices throughout the world. The company opened its 100th foreign office and 500th office globally in Istanbul, Turkey on February 7, 1967. On March 31, 1967, Manpower registered 300,000 shares of common stock offered for sale at $28 per share. In 1968, Manpower Technical is established, expanding to offer specialized temporary employees outside office clerical and industrial settings.
  1975-1985: Parker Pen Company: On August 18, 1975, upon the retirement of co-founder Elmer Winter, the Parker Pen Company announced its acquisition of Manpower for $28.2 million. A new subsidiary of Parker would own 80% of the 
caption: Manpower Inc. Logo from 2006 to 2011
exif: {}