Since the 1960s Kelly Girls has been synonymous with female temporary office workers. Originally a groundbreaking temporary employment service, the name has expanded to a generic, describing all temporary workers, including those who are neither female nor employees of Kelly Services. Kelly Girls describes not only a company and a type of work, but a cultural and economic phenomenon, the shift from the permanent career employee to the flexible "temp." Even Forbes Magazine headlined its July 16, 1986, article about the practice of hiring nuclear scientists and technicians on a temporary basis, "Sophisticated Kelly Girls."

In 1946, William Russell Kelly opened Russell Kelly Office Services in Detroit to provide inventory, calculating, typing, and copying services to local businesses. When his clients began to ask if Kelly's employees could come to their places of business to work, Kelly was happy to oblige. He began to offer workers who could fill...