Earnings Labs

Kelly Services, Inc. (KELYA)

Q3 2021 Earnings Call· Wed, Nov 10, 2021

$9.92

+3.44%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to Kelly Services Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. All parties will be on listen-only until the question-and-answer portion of the presentation. Today's call is being recorded at the request of Kelly Services. If anyone has any objections, you may disconnect at this time. A third quarter webcast presentation is also available on Kelly's website for this morning's call. I would now like to turn the meeting over to your host, Mr. Peter Quigley, President and CEO. Please go ahead.

Peter Quigley

Management

Thank you, John. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Kelly Services third quarter conference call. With me today is Olivier Thirot, our Chief Financial Officer, who will walk you through our safe harbor language, which can be found in our presentation materials.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Thank you, Peter, and good morning, everyone. Let me remind you that any comments made during this call, including the Q&A, may include forward-looking statements about our expectations for future performance. Actual results could differ materially from those suggested by our comments, and we have no obligation to update the statements made on this call. Please refer to our SEC filings for a description of the risk factors that could influence the company's actual future performance. In addition, during the call, certain data will be discussed on a reported and on an adjusted basis. Discussion of items on an adjusted basis are non-GAAP financial measures designed to give insight into certain trends in our operations. References to organic growth in our discussion today exclude the results of our Q2 acquisition of Softworld. We have also provided the slide deck that we are using on today's call on our website. Now, back to you, Peter.

Peter Quigley

Management

Thanks, Olivier. The economic recovery continued in Q3, although at a more moderate pace than anticipated at the start of the quarter as evidenced by a strong U.S. jobs report in July, followed by weaker results in August and September. Clearly, the Delta variant and related concerns regarding health, child care, vaccine mandates and masking requirements had and continues to have an impact on the slope of the recovery. It appears that even with the more positive October jobs report, many potential workers are staying on the sidelines despite the reopening of schools and the expiration of enhanced unemployment benefits and the business disruption caused by supply chain shortages continues across multiple industries. The good news is that we expect these challenges to be transitory. We're confident that as we continue to make progress towards the post-pandemic world, supply chain bottlenecks will ease, workers will reenter the workforce and the gap between demand and supply will narrow. At Kelly, we're managing the disruptions with short-term tactics without taking our eye off the longer-term goal. To lay the foundation for the future, we launched our new operating model last year in the midst of the pandemic, and we entered the recovery with our specialty strategy firmly in place, aligning us with markets where there is strong demand for skilled talent and smart workforce strategies. Now, we're adjusting to the current environment internally as well as helping customers adapt externally with both financial and nonfinancial actions. We continue to optimize our operating model invest in organic growth and execute against our inorganic growth plans. As you'll see in today's discussion, the increased demand for our solutions further affirms that we have charted the right course. Before I hand it off to Olivier to provide details on Kelly's third quarter performance, I'll share…

Olivier Thirot

Management

Thank you, Peter. As Peter mentioned, our Q3 results reflect the ongoing economic uncertainty stemming from the continued impact of COVID-19 as well as supply chain disruptions impacting the business operations of our customers and constraints on the availability of talent in the current labor market. Overall, we are seeing improving demand for our services, but we continue to be challenged to fulfill our customers' demand for talent. Before I review the current period results, it's helpful to reflect on the comparable period of last year. Q3 of 2020 represented the tail of the most severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our top line results and the beginning of a steady but slow recovery. We responded to those anemic related declines in revenue with temporary expense mitigation actions, which continued until the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2020. As we have discussed on past calls, revenues have improved from crisis-driven lows and most temporary expense mitigation actions have been discontinued. Now, looking at the third quarter of 2021; revenue totaled $1.2 billion, up 15% from the prior year, including 60 basis points of favorable currency impact. Our Q2 acquisition of Softworld added 320 basis points to our overall revenue growth rate. All five segments reported organic year-over-year revenue growth, and our Q3 organic recovery rate in revenue is 91%, 200 basis points higher than we saw in Q2. We measure revenue recovery rate by comparing current period results to the corresponding pre-COVID 2019 period on a constant currency basis. For the third quarter, our Education segment continues to report the highest year-over-year growth rate as the comparable 2020 period was impacted by significant school closures. We also measure revenue compared to 2019, and for the quarter, Education revenue is now exceeding the comparable pre-pandemic period by 17%. This…

Peter Quigley

Management

Thanks for those details, Olivier. We're encouraged by the increased demand for our services as the recovery continues. We're also encouraged by healthy sales pipelines, new customer wins and expanded customer spend that we're capturing in all five segments. As I mentioned last quarter, we're committed to executing our specialty strategy and will add sales and recruiting resources as warranted to meet increased demand and support Kelly growth. We did just that in the third quarter in anticipation that the recovery would maintain a steady trajectory. While some of the cost increase in the third quarter was due to good news, for example, the adjustment triggered by Greenwood Asure's [ph] performance, which is exceeding our initial expectations, it's clear that we need to review our expense structure to ensure that as we go into 2022, we are able to deliver better leverage and drop more GP dollars to the bottom line. Last week, we initiated a series of cost management actions designed to increase operational efficiencies and realign our cost base with the current environment. Olivier will provide more detail on the expected impact of these actions during his outlook. As Olivier mentioned, while demand in our P&I business exceeds pre-pandemic levels, we continue to work through fulfillment challenges in a labor market that is not following any previous recovery patterns. On a macro level, millions of jobs are going unfulfilled across industries. Even as schools have resumed in-person instructional delivery, fewer parents are returning to work. As I mentioned last quarter, proper matching of talent requires more than just adequate supply. Businesses need workers with the right skills, and they need those workers to be ready, able and willing to come work for them and then stay on the job. Not only is the recovery highlighting a structural skills…

Olivier Thirot

Management

Thank you, Peter. As mentioned, we completed the purchase of Softworld at the beginning of the second quarter, and we have nine months of Softworld activity reflected in our 2021 results. The impact of Softworld is included in our outlook. As we saw in the second and third quarter results, the Softworld acquisition will accelerate our revenue growth in the high demand high-margin technology specialty and will result in a structural improvement in our GP margin rate. As we reflect on the third quarter results and look forward, our views are for continuation of the current trend of steady increases in demand as well as a longer-than-expected continuation of the current level of talent mismatch, putting pressure on fulfillment. For the full year, we now expect revenue to be up 9.5% to 10.5% in nominal currency and including a 210 to 230 basis point impact from the Softworld acquisition. Our expectation reflects that there are no material changes in business or governmental restrictions related to COVID-19, demand continues to improve and that the steps we are taking to address the current talent mismatch will expand the supply of talent available to us. As noted, our current outlook reflects a slower pace of recovery than we are expecting last quarter, primarily in our lower-margin specialties as well as in education. We expect that the time line for each operating segment to reach pre-COVID revenue levels will depend on geographies served industry concentration, talent supply and of course, product mix. OCG has already crossed that milestone and other segments will do so later in 2021 or beyond. We'll continue to launch targeted growth initiatives that are intended to further accelerate our organic revenue growth. We do expect that the International segment's revenue growth rate will be negatively impacted by legislation recently enacted…

Peter Quigley

Management

Thank you, Olivier. Like the crisis that preceded it, this recovery continues to challenge expectations and norms. The optimism with which we entered the second quarter has been tempered by subsequent realities, including the delta variant and supply chain issues that have slowed the recovery more than anticipated back that. Our optimism about Kelly's long-term strategic journey, however, stands firm. We are encouraged by demand in our staffing and outsourcing businesses that exceeds pre-COVID levels. Sustained fee growth points toward our customers' investments in their future workforce and a market that is eager for the solutions we provide. At the same time, we are taking steps to bring our SG&A into line with our topline and GP growth and deliver better leverage. As we progress through the recovery, we are figuring out what the appropriate cost base is for a post-pandemic Kelly. Essentially, we're living in two worlds right now. The current state with all of its COVID related challenges and the future state where these limitations are lifted and markets are normalized. We're not taking our eye off the outcome we expect on the other side of this pandemic. COVID has caused uncertainty about the pace of recovery, but we are undeterred in our pursuit of becoming a specialty talent provider to create value for our shareholders and employees. We're pursuing M&A opportunities in targeted high-value specialties as evidenced by our acquisition of Softworld, which is delivering top and bottom-line growth for the enterprise. At the same time, we are investing in organic growth, and we're encouraged by early revenue trends in our K-12 tutoring solution and our newer P&I professional services product. The recovery may not be following a predictable path, but there is no question about where Kelly is heading. We're moving forward with a specialization strategy that is designed to meet market needs and to help customers and talent thrive. We celebrated Kelly's 75th anniversary in October and we're confident that even with all the company has accomplished over the decades, the very best is yet to come. John, you can now open the call to questions.

Operator

Operator

Certainly. [Operator Instructions] And first, from the line of Josh Vogel with Sidoti & Company. Please go ahead.

Josh Vogel

Analyst

Thanks, good morning, Peter and Olivier.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Good morning.

Peter Quigley

Management

Good morning, Josh.

Josh Vogel

Analyst

I have a couple of questions here. The first one around these cost management actions that you said, Olivier could bring, I think, $10 million plus in annual savings starting next year. But on the other side, you continued with organic investments in selected specialties. With that in mind, should we still feel comfortable that revenue should grow faster than SG&A next year?

Olivier Thirot

Management

Yes. I mean, clearly, and as a complement to our outlook, I would say that we are going to see meaningful leverage as soon as Q4 of this year, specifically in some areas where we have invested, namely for instance SET, where we have taken advantage of the recovery to invest in targeted areas, including Softworld, our engineering business as well as our technology business. So we believe that we are going to start to see a meaningful recovery of our incremental conversion rate in Q4, and we believe that it's going to be confirmed as soon as 2022.

Josh Vogel

Analyst

Thank you. And obviously, an impressive recovery rate you're showing in Education in particular. 2019 was a record year, I believe and even as there remains uncertainty around other variants or whatever, can we assume that Education is positioned next year to surpass what you did in 2019? In terms of revenue?

Olivier Thirot

Management

Certainly. I mean, I did mention that when we did exit September of this year, we are starting to exceed basically 2019 I think it has been clearly confirmed, Josh, by looking at Q3, where we are now up 17% versus 2019. And we believe that despite of the headwinds we are mentioning today, including vaccination and the COVID variant, we are well positioned to continue to grow and exceed -- continue to exceed 2019 beyond Q4 of the current year.

Peter Quigley

Management

And Josh, while there certainly are headwinds in terms of the talent supply right now with school districts showing a greater willingness to increase wages, with vaccination rates continuing to increase, albeit slowly and with the new emergency authorization for children in K-12, we think there's only upside in terms of the talent supply.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Yes. Just maybe to add something, Josh, that we have not seen before, in Education now, the wage inflation we see for Q3 is about 7% to 8%. So it seems to be like following what we have seen for several quarters in P&I, which I think is good news because the more we can get were inflation, the more we can attract the talent we need for our education business.

Josh Vogel

Analyst

Those are great insights. Thank you. Shifting gears. We're seeing the pickup in the fee-based work. Historically, coming out of a recession, you see that, and this is likely a response coming out of the pandemic, people need talent, they're willing to take them on full time. So is it fair to assume that this could and should slow down as we get into more normal and historical business environment? I guess, what I'm trying to get at is if we do see a drop in perm next year. And I'm sorry, I keep focusing on next year, and you'll probably give -- obviously give more comments when you report next quarter, but what kind of gross profit headwind do you think that could be in 2022?

Peter Quigley

Management

Well, I think I'll let Olivier comment on the gross profit. But the amount of, I'll call it, pent-up demand for talent is significant. And a number of our customers that are relying on permanent placement or attempt to hire to satisfy their now in -- significant demand for talent is likely to have a decent runway into 2022, especially if you consider the GDP projections that suggests that we're not nearly at the end of the recovery.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Yes. Josh, when you look at Q3 and here I'm going to refer directly to 2019, our fee business is growing by 30% versus 2019, it was about 17% in Q2, flat in Q1. Of course, I mean, the 30% that we see versus 2019 in Q3 is probably not sustainable for the long run. But I think the dynamic we have seen, I think, should continue, as Peter was mentioning, probably at a lower pace of growth, but certainly not going backward in the near future, knowing the structural talent shortage that we have mentioned several times.

Josh Vogel

Analyst

All right. Great, thank you and it just seems like there is a valuation disconnect with some of your peers. And I just want to think about the business, both at a company level, but also more macro. And now that we have more finite details, can you discuss opportunities you see or how you may benefit, particularly in P&I from the recently announced infrastructure bill? I know it will be over a long-term period. But are you a potential beneficiary of that?

Peter Quigley

Management

Sure. I think anytime there's a massive investment in goods and services in the U.S., we are positioned to take advantage of that, either directly in terms of customers that may be in the business of delivering broadband towers for example. But also indirectly, downstream benefits, manufacturing, logistics, areas that we're strong in and have exposure to that are likely to benefit our customers and therefore, Kelly.

Josh Vogel

Analyst

All right. Great. And just one last one, if I may. I don't think I brought this up on a conference call in a couple of quarters here. And it's just a running theme I have with several investors around Persol and the Japanese assets. They really seem to go underappreciated, especially as they're valued at around, let's call it, one-third of your market cap. Can you please walk me through this again and for everyone's listening benefit? How liquid is each asset, what capital gains or repatriation tax consequences could come into place if you sell a piece of either? Would that potentially cannibalize the $30 million or so revenue coming from APAC? I just want to get a better sense of how the street could better value these assets when ascertaining where the stock price is today?

Olivier Thirot

Management

Yes. Thank you, Josh. So if you look at our balance sheet at the end of Q3, and you combine the value of Persol with our 49% of the APAC JV, basically, the asset value is $345 million, which, of course, looking at our market cap is really a big portion of it, above one-third. In terms of liquidity, of course, Persol is a publicly traded company in Japan. So there is, of course, opportunity, if needed, and we have said that several times to monetize Persol. So if you think about tax and monetization, Persol would be basically 31%, which is the Japanese tax rate on the capital gain which of course is very substantial because the return on this investment has been phenomenal over time. And for the joint venture the tax cash rate, sorry, would be in the region of 5% to 6%.

Peter Quigley

Management

Yes. Just to be clear, that the $345 million, approximately $200 million plus of that the Persol. The joint venture is not liquid, it's a joint venture between two companies. So that's a slightly different in response to the liquidity question. But the bottom-line is, we agree with you that we don't necessarily think we -- the value of that asset is recognized and -- in our share price. And that's why in our investor deck, we have and we'll continue to update to try to steer investors and potential investors to that anomaly that they -- for reasons not always clear. They overlook.

Josh Vogel

Analyst

Agreed. I do appreciate all those insights and thank you for taking all my questions.

Peter Quigley

Management

Yes. Thanks, Josh.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Thank you, Josh.

Operator

Operator

Next, we'll go to the line of John Healy with Northcoast Research. Please go ahead.

Peter Quigley

Management

Hi, John.

John Healy

Analyst

Good morning, guys.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Good morning.

John Healy

Analyst

I was hoping if we could spend a couple of minutes just talking about the acquisition pipeline that you guys do have. And obviously, Softworld seems like it was a winner this year, but maybe some color on the type of properties that you guys are maybe evaluating and maybe the pace at which we could see that playing out next year?

Peter Quigley

Management

Yes, John, thanks for the question. The pipeline is healthy. The number of properties that have either come to market or that we've scouted out is probably as healthy as we've seen since we've become more acquisitive, and it's become a bigger part of our strategy. The properties that we're looking for are what we refer to as a platform like a Softworld and by platform, we mean a company that has exceptional growth prospects, high-quality management, excellent technology and processes that we can build on, not only expecting them to contribute revenue and earnings as they were before we acquired them, but at an accelerated pace. So, using Softworld as an example. We saw Softworld as one of those platforms and supported their growth through investment in additional recruiting and sales resources as early as the first month that they were part of our company. So those are the kinds of properties. I think there will be a bias towards properties in our fastest-growing specialties. So that would be science, engineering, technology, telecom, our OCG practice and Education. And just -- maybe I'll ask Olivier to comment. In this market, while there is a lot of activity, we're very mindful of valuations and ensuring that we don't overpay for these companies that we're looking at. And I'll ask Olivier to comment on what standard we hold ourselves to in order to ensure that.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Yes. I mean the first point is you know that we have no leverage on our balance sheet and ample capabilities to fund quickly some, I would say inorganic bets. Second point is, of course, there is a lot of activity on the market. We are very proactive, but we are keeping in mind some financial principles that we are using. You know that we are using internal rate of return. Our rate is 25% plus, which is pretty high. We are expecting usually a property that basically would be earning accretive as soon as the quarter of the acquisition. And usually, we are also using or looking at platforms where we can add organic type of investment. As soon as we have acquired this property. And I think Softworld is a good example. We did acquire Softworld beginning of April couple of months later, we had already in place a significant organic investment program in play to basically accelerate the top line growth that, as we said, was and is still double digit, around 20-21%.

John Healy

Analyst

Great. That's super helpful. And just wanted to ask a little bit on the cost savings. I was hoping, Olivier, you could maybe go a little deeper, maybe just operationally kind of what's changing? Is it a move to more centralized recruitment or centralized kind of back office? Is it largely domestic oriented? I'm just trying to -- I'm just trying to understand a little bit more conceptually kind of what's changing on the cost side of things? And additionally, is this something that you felt you wanted to do for a while and they were on the other side of COVID, hopefully, and now it makes sense? Or is this maybe potentially the start of something longer-term where maybe this could be phase one of multiple phase approach to looking at the cost a little bit more sharply?

Peter Quigley

Management

John, I'll let Olivier comment on some of the perspective from a financial. But from an operating standpoint, when we launched our new operating model last July, we expected that there would be additional ways to optimize that model and cost savings that we're realizing, and I'm talking about today are as a result of further refining the five business unit model that we have. And there are certain functions that were previously supporting all or a portion of the business units that now makes sense to push into the business units because it puts the activity closer to the customer, closer to the revenue and GP generation. And we think that allows us to rationalize some of the expense base that had historically been held in a more centralized way.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Yes. Just to add on that, our expectation is really to at least deliver $10 million of meaningful savings. Some of them are going to be kind of kept in corporate, but a lot of it is going to be basically getting our business units more efficient and accelerate leverage. Now, if you think about the long run or the mid- to long run, as Peter and I were mentioning today, we are also looking at productivity metrics with the business unit to really continue to streamline and improve our efficiency over time. This is an ongoing process that we are looking at, including technologies that we have discussed for the last couple of quarters.

John Healy

Analyst

Okay, thank you guys.

Peter Quigley

Management

Thanks, John.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Thanks.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is from Kevin Steinke with Barrington Research. Please go ahead.

Peter Quigley

Management

Good morning, Kevin.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Good morning.

Kevin Steinke

Analyst

Good morning. Hey, I wanted to ask about -- you mentioned that your outlook assumes that the initiatives you're taking to increase talent supply will gain traction. So can you talk about what successes you've seen on that front? And how willing our customers to work with you on some of the things you mentioned, for example, you mentioned outdated background screening, educational requirements. Just trying to get a sense of the traction you're seeing and being able to improve talent supply with your initiatives and your customers' willingness to work with you on those initiatives?

Peter Quigley

Management

Kevin, I'll give you an example, but I would add to that list of background screen in education also just the baseline willingness to consider increasing wages, there's also obviously an important factor. But in the case of the background screening, we recently shared a case study that we had with Toyota in a huge manufacturing facility. We've been working with Toyota to open up the top of their talent funnel by allowing candidates with nonviolent, non-relatable criminal convictions to be considered for work at Toyota. And 92% of the candidates actually passed the screening requirements that we established with Toyota, literally hundreds of people found work there. Toyota increased their talent pool by 20%. They increased their diversity by almost 10%, and they lowered their turnover by 70%. And that's the kind of story that we're seeing among other customers that are willing to revisit these many policies, whether it's education or background screening that have been in place for decades and rarely revisited. And our Kelly33 program is particularly targeted at the criminal conviction background. But we have other programs that we're undertaking with customers who are frankly starved for talent and are willing to relook at their approach.

Kevin Steinke

Analyst

Great. That's really interesting and helpful. And you mentioned wage is another factor -- wages is another factor there. I would assume or is it true that in the current environment, your customers are seeing the need to mark up wages to attract the talent or kind of what's the dynamic you're seeing there as you work with your customers?

Peter Quigley

Management

Yes. We're seeing pretty much across the board willingness to at least engage in a discussion about raising wages because companies that are not willing -- are just suffering because in this environment, talent has a choice. And it's not only the attraction of talent, but retention of talent as well. We're seeing evidence of some increases in the attraction of talent, but retention continues to be a real challenge. And I'll let Olivier comment on the wage increases that we're seeing, and it's pretty much across the board, including finally after years of stagnated wages in our Education practice.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Yes. As I said, Kevin, the education is a little bit new. And now we see really some meaningful increase in wages. I mentioned 7% to 8%. That's really something we have not seen in the past. I would say it's market-related, but also what we do in Kelly education to have meaningful conversations with our customers in education and explain to them the new market conditions and what they need to do to attract those tenants. So it's not only something that is externally driven. That's also an outcome of numerous discussions we have in education. And I would say something very similar for P&I. Current inflation, we see wage inflation within P&I is now 8% to 9%, which is pretty high, higher than inflation, higher than what we have seen in the past. It's also a combination of, of course, market pressure, but also numerous discussions that Kelly P&I have with their customers to educate them on this new environment and what they need to do and amongst other things, how they can be financially competitive on this market where there is a big imbalance between supply and demand.

Kevin Steinke

Analyst

Right. Okay, that's helpful. And just circling back, there was a discussion earlier about -- and I know you're not giving guidance at this point, but for 2022. But just as we think about gross margin moving into next year, you obviously have the positive drivers of permanent placement and growth in your higher-margin specialties. But we could also potentially or hopefully see 3-year recovery in international and P&I, kind of your lower margin specialties. So just how are you thinking about that all balancing out? Do you think the secular drivers you have in place for growth margin expansion will kind of remain in place and outweigh that or is it too early to comment?

Olivier Thirot

Management

Yes. I mean, of course, we are not yet ready to give formal outlook or guidance for 2022. But if you look at structurally what we have done and what kind of dynamics we have seen in the past. Just as a reminder, our GP margin in 2014 was 16.3%. We are now at 19.2%. If you look at this trend, of course, we have about 50% of it that is coming from inorganic initiatives. And I think Softworld is a good example for the current year. But we have also, what I call more structural organic improvement that we have seen in the past, continue to see about 25, 30 basis points pure organic basically improvement year-over-year. What you see now, especially on the fee business and the type of push that it is providing to our margins 90 basis points in Q3, 17 in Q2, 30 in Q1, might ease a little bit in the future because, as we said, I mean, the type of growth we have now in the fee business is not going to continue at that pace, meaning like 30% versus 2019. But we continue to see this kind of structural improvement organically that we have seen for many years now. And it could be accelerated, as we have seen with Softworld and other acquisitions with inorganic, especially because Peter was mentioning again that the profile of the companies we are looking at are high growth, high-value and high-value is basically gross margin and net margin or EBITDA margin.

Kevin Steinke

Analyst

All right, thank you that's helpful. You had mentioned on the last call, maybe accelerating the further deployment of your front office system for recruiters? Just maybe an update on what's going on in that front? And just how far along you are on the initiative?

Peter Quigley

Management

Yes. It continues to be a high priority for us, Kevin, as we look to transition from our legacy tech stack to a more versatile and modern one. And so that work continues. And as I indicated last call, there will be incremental improvements as we disentangle from the legacy tech stack and enable some of the best-in-class tools that are available in the front office to in order to the benefit of our recruiters. So that's work that we're continuing not only to focus on in terms of the time and energy of our IT team. But financially, to make sure that we're getting to the endpoint as quickly as possible.

Kevin Steinke

Analyst

Great. Maybe one or two more here, but any way to maybe just qualitatively frame how much of an impact, supply chain disruptions are having on your business currently in terms of your ability of your customers to just operate the way they would like to?

Peter Quigley

Management

Well, we have seen the most pronounced impact in automotive. That started first, and we have considerable exposure to automotive. I think it's relieved to some extent, although there's still chip shortages and other part shortages. The dynamic that we've seen, I would say, in the last three or four months is the disruption has found its way into other industries. And the challenge for us is a staffing provider is it's uncertain. We have customers who are forced to shut down operations because of a failure of a delivery or they can't -- they don't have enough parts. So it's challenging just from a load balancing standpoint. But as I mentioned in my remarks, we believe this is temporary and that eventually, with the federal government now focused on 7/24 opening of the ports and other policy changes that we will, over the course of time, see an evening out of the supply chain issues.

Kevin Steinke

Analyst

All right. Thanks for all the insight. Thanks for taking questions.

Peter Quigley

Management

Thanks, Kevin.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Thank you, Kevin.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is from the line of Joe Gomes with NOBLE Capital.

Peter Quigley

Management

Good morning, Joe.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Good morning.

Joe Gomes

Analyst

So there's been a lot of talk here, obviously, about candidate availability and talent supply. Maybe you could just touch a little bit about internally for Kelly itself. I mean, are you running at the optimum level, the number of consultants that you have out there? Are you looking to add people? How is it impacting the Kelly business, the entire availability of candidates out there?

Peter Quigley

Management

Well, Joe, as everybody scrambles for -- to find talent, the competition for recruiters is also significant. And companies that during the pandemic released their entire talent acquisition teams are now also in the market for recruiters as some of their recruiters that they let go during the pandemic or have gone on to other things or decided to stay on the sidelines. The positive is that we do have a considerable base of recruiters and that includes not only in our staffing business, but also our recruitment process outsourcing business. So we're seeing significant demand in our recruitment process outsourcing business as well as across our staffing and outcome-based segments. But clearly, having enough recruiters, keeping the recruiters, ensuring that the recruiters are at productivity is an ongoing challenge in this sort of really competitive environment for talent and the people that whose job it is to find talent.

Joe Gomes

Analyst

Okay, thank you for that. And last couple of quarters, you mentioned some of the new clients. And I was wondering if you might be able to give us a little more color in detail, especially on the education side, maybe some key wins or the size of wins there? I mean how is that win rate, so to speak, compared to what it has been historically?

Peter Quigley

Management

We're seeing wins across both large and small school districts and everything in between. The demand for outsourced support for finding instructors. Probably we've never seen it as high. The amount of new wins that we've had in the last 12, 18 months, probably the highest for Kelly education. So there are -- they come in all shapes and geographies. And the pipeline continues to be very robust. And I think, while we don't disclose what our win rate is, we're confident that we're winning more than our fair share.

Joe Gomes

Analyst

Great. Thanks for taking my questions.

Peter Quigley

Management

Okay, Joe.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Thank you, Joe.

Operator

Operator

And Mr. Quigley, we have no further questions in queue.

Peter Quigley

Management

Okay, John.

Olivier Thirot

Management

Thank you, John.

Peter Quigley

Management

Thank you for your support. As always, we appreciate it.

Operator

Operator

You're very welcome. Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude your conference for today. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.