Environmental
Kelly is committed to protecting our planet for future generations. Our environmental initiatives focus on providing safe and sustainable work environments for our workers while mitigating the environmental footprint of our operations.
2023 Environmental HighlightsOngoing PrioritiesEnvironmentGlobal Carbon FootprintGlobal Health and SafetyKelly's Approach to Health and SafetyHealth and Safety MetricsHealth and Safety Awards and Recognition
Continue strengthening internal data gathering and validation processes of our carbon emissions to reduce our impact.
Evaluate maturity to set carbon reduction targets aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative.
Formalize internal processes and accountability to ensure compliance with climate disclosure regulatory requirements.
Deliver continual advancement of workplace safety and implement more effective preventive solutions through data-driven insights and technology systems.
We enhanced the thoroughness of our accounting for Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions through improved data collection and validation processes.
We expanded our Scope 3 carbon footprint to include two additional categories: purchased goods and services and capital goods, to enhance visibility into initiatives for engaging with our suppliers and broader supply chain.
We disclose our environmental progress and commitment to transparency through our Corporate Sustainability and ESG report, the CDP, and other external assessments.
We continued to deliver on our core promise to ensure healthy and safe work environments for all our employees and talent. Through our Absolute Zero program and ongoing tracking of our health and safety indicators, we achieve incident rates that outperform the staffing industry average.
We began the development of a technology tool within our internal risk management system that will track impactful metrics and capture incident details more consistently. This will allow us to use data-driven insights to implement and drive preventative measures that reduce risks of illnesses and injuries to Kelly talent assigned to our customers’ worksites.
Kelly has a team of experienced safety professionals including one Certified Safety Professional and one Certified Industrial Hygienist on staff to serve as a resource to our clients and talent.
Kelly’s risk management process has incorporated environmental factors into our internal analysis to identify and address increasing client expectations and regulatory standards regarding carbon accounting and climate risk across our operations. Recognizing the escalating interest over carbon emissions from stakeholders and regulatory bodies, we continued our commitment in 2023 to enhance our accountability and understanding concerning Scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon emissions across our global operations. Our efforts are focused on refining internal systems to streamline the collection and validation of data, thereby improving the accuracy and thoroughness of our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data.
Looking ahead, we aim to align our carbon metrics with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and establish a comprehensive strategy that enables us to quantify, reduce, and offset our emissions with the goal of achieving net-zero targets by 2050 or sooner.
Kelly operates from leased office spaces and discloses Scope 1 and 2 carbon emission data from global facilities with operational control in Canada, the United States, Puerto Rico, Australia, and Malaysia. In 2023, Kelly sold its European operations. Although we maintain a business presence in Europe, these locations are excluded from our GHG emissions accounting because we do not exercise operational control over these facilities.
We report Scope 2 carbon emissions associated with electricity consumption using both location-based and market-based approaches, covering our global facilities and IT equipment in third-party data centers. The market-based approach reflects the utilization of 100% renewable energy to power 1,090 MWh of our IT equipment in those data centers, directly procured by our vendor. In addition, our Sydney, Australia office holds a 6-star NABERS Energy Base Building rating, signifying top-tier environmental efficiency and performance.
We remain dedicated to monitoring and tracking energy intensity metrics, identifying opportunities to reduce energy consumption, and adopting alternative sources of renewable energy.
In 2023, we expanded our GHG emission accounting to include two new categories, which significantly increased the baseline metrics for our indirect emissions. Incorporating purchased goods and services, along with capital goods, allows for a more comprehensive understanding of our upstream carbon emissions and presents future opportunities to engage with our supplier base.
Scope 3 Category
Metric Tons CO2e
% of Total Emissions
1. Purchased Goods and Services
13,483.57
64%
2. Capital Goods
1,036.95
5%
3. Fuel and Energy not included in Scope 2 (lb)
139.39
1%
3. Fuel and Energy not included in Scope 2 (mb)
0
0%
6. Business Travel
3,247.93
15%
7. Employee Commuting and Working from Home
3,076.52
Total Scope 3 Emissions
20,984.37
*Kelly subsidiaries are not included in the 2023 GHG emissions accounting.
MethodologyOur carbon emission accounting follows the guidelines of the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. For Scope 1 and 2 emissions, we apply an operational control approach and include operations in the Americas and APAC regions. Scope 2 emissions include calculations for both location-based and market-based approaches, considering electricity usage in our facilities and data centers.
Emissions factors were sourced from various databases, selected based on their availability, to ensure compliance with best practices. These include Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional eGrid emission for facilities located in the Americas, and the U.K. Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) emissions factors for Scope 3 and international operations. Specifically, Scope 3 calculations related to estimating purchased goods and services and capital goods emissions, used a spend-based approach using financial data and EPA’s supply chain GHG emissions factors by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
Data LimitationsKelly is committed to continuous improvement of our data collection, calculation, and validation methodologies to ensure accuracy and meaningful information for our stakeholders.
Our Scope 1 and 2 metrics include all facilities under our operational control. Where we have access to invoices and consumption reports, we make estimations prioritizing primary information. In cases where actual consumption data is not available from landlords in certain facilities, we have estimated emissions and consumption metrics by utilizing the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey. These estimations include GHG emissions based on square footage, location, energy intensity metrics, and the local electricity grid. Scope 3 emissions for purchased goods and services, and capital goods, uses EPA’s supply chain greenhouse gas emission factors by NAICS. While we are aware that these emissions factors have limitations on recent data, they serve as an initial baseline estimate that enables us to begin collaborating with our suppliers to identify and prioritize our reduction strategies in the coming years.
Kelly's global offices primarily consume water for employee needs, given our low water usage footprint. In 2021, we assessed water risks to identify high-stress water regions where our facilities operate. Most of our directly controlled facilities are in low-risk water stress areas. At our headquarters office, we have adopted practices to reduce water usage in our daily operations. This includes the use of irrigation systems for landscaping and the installation of smart-sensor, low-flow fixtures in faucets and toilets.
Our waste is mainly generated from daily activities within our office spaces. Working alongside local landlords, our facilities strive for efficient waste management with efforts to promote the proper separation and recycling of IT assets and office-related materials. In 2023, our corporate office recycled 38.33 metric tons of paper, helping to preserve 1,014 trees and over 80,000 gallons of water. Through our e-waste program, 11.43 metric tons of hardware assets were recycled and diverted from local landfills, and 3,568 units were remarketed in the U.S.
Kelly is committed to guaranteeing the highest standards of health and safety for our workers. Our people are our most important asset, and we deliver our safety promise by ensuring compliance with applicable local and national regulations and formalizing Safety, Health, and Environmental (SHE) systems and programs aligned with leading international standards.
Our Global SHE team are internal subject matter experts who actively collaborate with employees, talent, customers, industry peers, and government agencies in designing and sharing the best practices to mitigate employee accidents, incidents, and occupational hazards. We actively engage with industry associations, including the American Staffing Association (ASA) Safety Subcommittee, to remain informed and expand our efforts on improving best practices related to workplace safety.
This team also plays an active role in our internal Risk, Opportunities, Vetting, and Enablement committee, to ensure we deliver our noble purpose of connecting people to work opportunities where they feel safe and secure in their work environment.
Embodied in our Global Safety and Health policy is a dedicated commitment to a safe working environment for every member of our workforce. This policy is communicated in our Employee Handbook and is delivered to new employees during their orientation process. Throughout our operations, we aim to ensure accountability of our policies and processes and champion a shared responsibility for managers, employees, and customers to understand, lead, and uphold our dedication to safety standards.
Kelly’s Absolute Zero program is led by our Global Safety, Health, and Environmental team, and fortifies our unwavering dedication to ensuring the absolute safety of our workforce. This program not only provides employees with a comprehensive framework for adopting the highest safety standards, but includes proactive initiatives to identify, assess, mitigate, and prevent occupational illnesses and injuries in the workplace. Absolute Zero aims to go beyond compliance with health and safety legislation by monitoring impact metrics, striving for zero on-the-job accidents, zero on-the-job injuries, and zero on-the-job illnesses.
Kelly’s unwavering dedication to health and safety embraces our talent and customers. Through our Global Safety and Health Program, we encourage and empower our customers to commit to and ensure the highest safety standards at their workplaces. The program provides regular training and engagement for talent placed at our customer’s workplaces. In addition, Kelly has one Certified Safety Professional (CSP) and one Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) on staff to serve as a resource to our clients and talent.
We maintain an active engagement with our customers by conducting pre-assignment risk assessments of our customer’s work environments where talent will be assigned, worker training, and analysis of incident reports to assess their commitment to safety standards. All customers are assessed before servicing and are regularly monitored through our performance evaluation metrics.
In 2023, Kelly outperformed our peers in the staffing industry by 91% Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) and 92% Days Away/Restricted and Transferred Incident Rate (DART) compared to 2022 Business of Labor Statistics (BLS) industry averages.*
*Current year industry averages were not available at the time of publishing.
Kelly is honored to have been recognized for safety performance by a premier client for over 27 years.
In 2023, the Industry Business Roundtable (IBR) awarded Kelly with a Safety Excellence Award in the Large Technical Support Silver category.
Kelly Canada received the Certificate of Recognition (COR) from the Alberta Government in 2022-2023. This certificate is awarded to employers who develop health and safety programs that adhere to established standards.
In 2022, Kelly achieved the Health and Safety Excellence Program certification by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Ontario.
