where knowledge is so important, I called everybody together and said, 'Here's the bad news – I'm not going to sugarcoat it – we are this far in debt, and we've never earned this much before in profit in a year.'"

Jacob spoke frankly with his staff about his plan to get back on track, which included eliminating raises and bonuses in the short term as well as reducing benefits in the firm's health care plan. Like a battlefield commander facing a wave of insurmountable troops, he concluded by pledging to his employees, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to throw in the towel – I still think we've got a great company." Jacob says he looked around the room and no one wanted to leave; they all wanted to be part of the solution. Only a few months later, the firm was on its way doubling in size. By February 2005 it had paid off its debt.

It's understandable that being part of the solution would be attractive

According to 2005 data by the American Staffing Association, the staffing industry has grown at a rate of about 8 percent per year for the last several years. Keith Jacob's Missouri-based staffing firm, St. Louis Staffing, leads this trend: His 11-year-old firm of 14 full-time employees and several hundred part-time employees has grown about 20 percent each year since 2004. This in an industry that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts will create more new jobs than any other industry through 2014.

Clearly, Jacob knows a good thing when he sees it.

A 2006 Winning Workplaces/FORTUNE Small Business Best Boss, he is one of the youngest entrepreneurs to be honored by our annual workplace recognition program. His efforts to supply talented workers to clients in the light industrial sector in St. Louis as well as the Missouri communities of Columbia, Mexico and O'Fallon – where the company maintains satellite offices – earned him a spot on the St. Louis Business Journal's "40 Under 40" list.

In speaking with Jacob, one gets the sense that accolades don't matter that much – certainly not as much as fulfilling his motto of "working hard to keep you working" by matching workers' skills with client employers' needs. These days Jacob, who founded St. Louis Staffing after holding management positions at PepsiCo and Lanter Delivery Systems, is on a mission to diversify workplaces.

"We've introduced the notion of a diverse workforce to several of our customers," he says. "They thought that the language barrier would be so prohibitive that they wouldn't even entertain bringing in people who didn't speak English [as a first language]. But just by our cajoling, we've had several customers who now very much enjoy having a more diverse workforce, and who request the opportunity to build a bigger Hispanic workforce within their own operation."

While only about 2 percent of St. Louis' population is Hispanic according to the U.S. Census Bureau – representing about 7,000 people – of the staffing firm's 2,500 job placements in 2006, about two-thirds of those involved Hispanic workers, Jacob says. Considering that the firm's geographic range is a 50-mile radius of downtown St. Louis, and that contrary to other staffing firms, many of St. Louis Staffing's placements are longer than one-day assignments, the company is having a measurable impact on local diversity, both inside and outside the workplace.

Another hallmark of the firm is an emphasis on cross training – on everything from account management and operations to payroll/billing. After all, many of the employers who engage St. Louis Staffing need to fill multiple roles. "The reason a lot of companies use us is that they don't have full-time HR people," says Dennis Harre, an account manager who has been with the firm for over two years. "So we're heavily involved in disciplinary actions, bring on new staff and terminating those [employees] that are not working out."

St. Louis Staffing devotes 120 hours of training to new employees in their first year and 20 hours per year subsequently. Julie Giboney, who has managed the firm's Columbia office for close to a year, received four days of training at the St. Louis headquarters and started in her role in Columbia the next week. "Keith was here for a few days my first week to make sure I was comfortable with everything," she says.

Jacob's personal attention and focus on training yielded big dividends for the firm a few years ago. In June 2004 their third-largest client went bankrupt, leaving St. Louis Staffing with an "unbelievable uncollectible debt," Jacob says. "Because we had just implemented open book management, where knowledge is so important, I called everybody together and said, 'Here's the bad news – I'm not going to sugarcoat it – we are this far in debt, and we've never earned this much before in profit in a year.'"

Jacob spoke frankly with his staff about his plan to get back on track, which included eliminating raises and bonuses in the short term as well as reducing benefits in the firm's health care plan. Like a battlefield commander facing a wave of insurmountable troops, he concluded by pledging to his employees, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to throw in the towel – I still think we've got a great company." Jacob says he looked around the room and no one wanted to leave; they all wanted to be part of the solution. Only a few months later, the firm was on its way doubling in size. By February 2005 it had paid off its debt.

It's understandable that being part of the solution would be attractive t

ns satellite offices – earned him a spot on the St. Louis Business Journal's "40 Under 40" list.

In speaking with Jacob, one gets the sense that accolades don't matter that much – certainly not as much as fulfilling his motto of "working hard to keep you working" by matching workers' skills with client employers' needs. These days Jacob, who founded St. Louis Staffing after holding management positions at PepsiCo and Lanter Delivery Systems, is on a mission to diversify workplaces.

"We've introduced the notion of a diverse workforce to several of our customers," he says. "They thought that the language barrier would be so prohibitive that they wouldn't even entertain bringing in people who didn't speak English [as a first language]. But just by our cajoling, we've had several customers who now very much enjoy having a more diverse workforce, and who request the opportunity to build a bigger Hispanic workforce within their own operation."

While only about 2 percent of St. Louis' population is Hispanic according to the U.S. Census Bureau – representing about 7,000 people – of the staffing firm's 2,500 job placements in 2006, about two-thirds of those involved Hispanic workers, Jacob says. Considering that the firm's geographic range is a 50-mile radius of downtown St. Louis, and that contrary to other staffing firms, many of St. Louis Staffing's placements are longer than one-day assignments, the company is having a measurable impact on local diversity, both inside and outside the workplace.

Another hallmark of the firm is an emphasis on cross training – on everything from account management and operations to payroll/billing. After all, many of the employers who engage St. Louis Staffing need to fill multiple roles. "The reason a lot of companies use us is that they don't have full-time HR people," says Dennis Harre, an account manager who has been with the firm for over two years. "So we're heavily involved in disciplinary actions, bring on new staff and terminating those [employees] that are not working out."

St. Louis Staffing devotes 120 hours of training to new employees in their first year and 20 hours per year subsequently. Julie Giboney, who has managed the firm's Columbia office for close to a year, received four days of training at the St. Louis headquarters and started in her role in Columbia the next week. "Keith was here for a few days my first week to make sure I was comfortable with everything," she says.

Jacob's personal attention and focus on training yielded big dividends for the firm a few years ago. In June 2004 their third-largest client went bankrupt, leaving St. Louis Staffing with an "unbelievable uncollectible debt," Jacob says. "Because we had just implemented open book management, where knowledge is so important, I called everybody together and said, 'Here's the bad news – I'm not going to sugarcoat it – we are this far in debt, and we've never earned this much before in profit in a year.'"

Jacob spoke frankly with his staff about his plan to get back on track, which included eliminating raises and bonuses in the short term as well as reducing benefits in the firm's health care plan. Like a battlefield commander facing a wave of insurmountable troops, he concluded by pledging to his employees, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to throw in the towel – I still think we've got a great company." Jacob says he looked around the room and no one wanted to leave; they all wanted to be part of the solution. Only a few months later, the firm was on its way doubling in size. By February 2005 it had paid off its debt.

It's understandable that being part of the solution would be attractive

workforce within their own operation."

While only about 2 percent of St. Louis' population is Hispanic according to the U.S. Census Bureau – representing about 7,000 people – of the staffing firm's 2,500 job placements in 2006, about two-thirds of those involved Hispanic workers, Jacob says. Considering that the firm's geographic range is a 50-mile radius of downtown St. Louis, and that contrary to other staffing firms, many of St. Louis Staffing's placements are longer than one-day assignments, the company is having a measurable impact on local diversity, both inside and outside the workplace.

Another hallmark of the firm is an emphasis on cross training – on everything from account management and operations to payroll/billing. After all, many of the employers who engage St. Louis Staffing need to fill multiple roles. "The reason a lot of companies use us is that they don't have full-time HR people," says Dennis Harre, an account manager who has been with the firm for over two years. "So we're heavily involved in disciplinary actions, bring on new staff and terminating those [employees] that are not working out."

St. Louis Staffing devotes 120 hours of training to new employees in their first year and 20 hours per year subsequently. Julie Giboney, who has managed the firm's Columbia office for close to a year, received four days of training at the St. Louis headquarters and started in her role in Columbia the next week. "Keith was here for a few days my first week to make sure I was comfortable with everything," she says.

Jacob's personal attention and focus on training yielded big dividends for the firm a few years ago. In June 2004 their third-largest client went bankrupt, leaving St. Louis Staffing with an "unbelievable uncollectible debt," Jacob says. "Because we had just implemented open book management, where knowledge is so important, I called everybody together and said, 'Here's the bad news – I'm not going to sugarcoat it – we are this far in debt, and we've never earned this much before in profit in a year.'"

Jacob spoke frankly with his staff about his plan to get back on track, which included eliminating raises and bonuses in the short term as well as reducing benefits in the firm's health care plan. Like a battlefield commander facing a wave of insurmountable troops, he concluded by pledging to his employees, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to throw in the towel – I still think we've got a great company." Jacob says he looked around the room and no one wanted to leave; they all wanted to be part of the solution. Only a few months later, the firm was on its way doubling in size. By February 2005 it had paid off its debt.

It's understandable that being part of the solution would be attractive

Dennis Harre, an account manager who has been with the firm for over two years. "So we're heavily involved in disciplinary actions, bring on new staff and terminating those [employees] that are not working out."

St. Louis Staffing devotes 120 hours of training to new employees in their first year and 20 hours per year subsequently. Julie Giboney, who has managed the firm's Columbia office for close to a year, received four days of training at the St. Louis headquarters and started in her role in Columbia the next week. "Keith was here for a few days my first week to make sure I was comfortable with everything," she says.

Jacob's personal attention and focus on training yielded big dividends for the firm a few years ago. In June 2004 their third-largest client went bankrupt, leaving St. Louis Staffing with an "unbelievable uncollectible debt," Jacob says. "Because we had just implemented open book management, where knowledge is so important, I called everybody together and said, 'Here's the bad news – I'm not going to sugarcoat it – we are this far in debt, and we've never earned this much before in profit in a year.'"

Jacob spoke frankly with his staff about his plan to get back on track, which included eliminating raises and bonuses in the short term as well as reducing benefits in the firm's health care plan. Like a battlefield commander facing a wave of insurmountable troops, he concluded by pledging to his employees, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to throw in the towel – I still think we've got a great company." Jacob says he looked around the room and no one wanted to leave; they all wanted to be part of the solution. Only a few months later, the firm was on its way doubling in size. By February 2005 it had paid off its debt.

It's understandable that being part of the solution would be attractive

where knowledge is so important, I called everybody together and said, 'Here's the bad news – I'm not going to sugarcoat it – we are this far in debt, and we've never earned this much before in profit in a year.'"

Jacob spoke frankly with his staff about his plan to get back on track, which included eliminating raises and bonuses in the short term as well as reducing benefits in the firm's health care plan. Like a battlefield commander facing a wave of insurmountable troops, he concluded by pledging to his employees, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to throw in the towel – I still think we've got a great company." Jacob says he looked around the room and no one wanted to leave; they all wanted to be part of the solution. Only a few months later, the firm was on its way doubling in size. By February 2005 it had paid off its debt.

It's understandable that being part of the solution would be attractive to the staffing firm's employees. The hallmark of many winning workplaces is a mission that grows the organization as it feeds the souls of its workers. "We have around 500 employees working for us in any given week that more than likely would not have found a job on their own. To be able to help them out is really satisfying," Harre says.