In 1960, Reed pioneered specialist recruitment in the UK, opening the first office in Hounslow, London. Seven decades on, we have become the world’s largest family-run recruitment business, with offices spanning across the UK, Europe, USA, Middle East and Asia.
Reed was founded by entrepreneur and philanthropist, Sir Alec Reed, in 1960, and has since grown organically into an industry powerhouse.
Following his father, James Reed became Chairman of Reed in 2004, making Reed the world’s largest family-run recruitment business, with over 100 offices spanning across the UK, Europe, USA and Asia.
Sir Alec Reed founded the Reed Business School in the Cotswolds, UK to provide a learning centre for Reed co-members as well as residential courses for accountancy students. The Reed Business School has even been listed as one of the most beautiful places to study in the world.
The website reedglobal.com went live in October 2008, providing a platform for UK and international Reed offices. Since then it has grown to be a hub for human resources and recruitment news, industry insights and a place for candidates and clients to develop their teams and careers.
On 7 May 2020, Reed turned 60. With 60 years' experience under our belt, we continue to lead the way with the best recruitment solutions and comprehensive industry knowledge.
This year we launched our latest venture – Reed Franchise Partnerships. Our aim is clear – we want to partner with experienced recruiters outside of the UK to help them grow best in class recruitment businesses. Having successfully launched in Singapore, we are now looking to partner with others across the world.
Our network of franchise partners has grown at a fast pace since early 2022. We currently have partners in the US, Europe, East Asia and the Middle East.
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All the businesses in the Reed Group are united by our purpose of ‘improving lives through work’ and share the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to find meaningful, fulfilling work.
When Joining us as a franchise partner, you will also be able to work in partnership with other brands bellow the Reed umbrella, such as Reed Screening and Reed Learning, offering more services and products to your clients.
They are always at the core of what we do and how we do it. At Reed we are a big community. When you join us, you’ll be joining a company full of friendly, hardworking people who are always willing to support you if you need it.
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Our brand message is simple, Love Mondays. At the heart of this message is our firmly held belief that everyone should be able to find fulfilling work. We are here to help people do just that.
Our purpose is, improving lives through work. We believe in building businesses for the benefit of society and we’re proud to make a positive difference to people’s lives. We change people’s lives every time that we place someone new into a new role.
To me, this work is a privilege. Recruitment is not just a job, it’s a vocation. 
Loving what you do means feeling free to be yourself while doing it. That’s why we do everything we can to make sure all our partners and the co-members at Reed feels like they belong. Because they honestly do.
We take gender equality seriously. Whether it’s tackling the gender pay gap, mentoring women in leadership or making sure families have the support they need, we’re committed to creating and facilitating a gender-inclusive workplace, through a range of networking groups and knowledge-sharing activities.
Everyone should have the freedom to be themselves at work, and at Reed we strive to create a safe, open, and inclusive environment for all our LGBTQ+ co-members. Through our initiatives, including regular lunch and learns, internal communications and our transitioning at work policy, we look to increase representation and education around LGBTQ+ identities.
At Reed, we don’t just recognise different cultures. In order to truly champion inclusion in the workplace, we celebrate them. Whether it’s fasting with Muslim co-members during Ramadan, highlighting Afro-Caribbean icons during Black History Month, or learning about weddings during South Asian Heritage Month, we embrace all different cultures. We’ve also signed the Race at Work charter to help us improve how we support our ethnically diverse co-members.
We aim to ensure that our workplace reflects the communities we’re based in through fair and inclusive recruitment and selection processes. This includes creating job ads that appeal to all sections of society, only shortlisting people whose skills match the job requirements and only asking role-relevant questions during interviews.
Reed has been CarbonNeutral® since 2005. We keep bees, have planted thousands of trees, and support our co-members in reducing their carbon footprints.
Our goal is to invest in green jobs, provide training in the environmental sector, and develop new services to help other organisations protect the environment.
We continuously looking for ways to reduce our landfill waste and paper consumption. Eighty six per cent of our offices have recycling facilities, we recycle our old computing equipment, and our Digital Workplace initiative has allowed us to reduce our need to print materials by 20%.
Check Reed's ESG mission
If you’re an experienced recruiter looking to open your own business, a recruitment agency looking to flourish with the backing of a global brand, or an entrepreneur looking to open a staffing business, we have the tools to help you.
In the dynamic world of recruitment, starting your own business can be a daunting task. But what if you could start smart? Reed Franchise Partnerships offers just that – a solution for recruiters looking to open their own businesses.
So, you have decided to hire someone for your small recruitment business. Perhaps it’s your first hire. The question is, should you recruit someone with or without recruitment experience? This blog considers the pros and cons of both options.
