Olsten's Precise System Receives Accreditation By the British National Training Organisation for Information Technology.

MELVILLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 21, 1999--

Olsten Corporation, one of the world's leading staffing services companies, has announced that the Precise(R) System has been awarded the status of Accredited Training Product by the British National Training Organisation for Information Technology (ITNTO), announced Jim Harding, Chief Information Officer, Olsten Corporation. The ITNTO Accreditation indicates that Precise Skills Evaluations meet and exceed the relevant national standards for IT competence in the United Kingdom.

The ITNTO is the leading industry body, appointed by the British Government, to identify and code best practices in information technology (IT) training. In addition, the ITNTO sets the standards of competence for the use of IT in the workplace.

Olsten's Precise System was developed to assess a job applicant's proficiency in leading software packages and suites using an interactive program based on real world tasks, which the applicant must perform. For example, an applicant can demonstrate his/her knowledge of formatting tasks by efficiently and quickly formatting documents, spreadsheets or web pages. Unlike other evaluations which rely on multiple choice, true/false or fill-in-the-blank types of questions, the Precise system more closely emulates a real work environment and allows Olsten to better match an applicant to a specific assignment.

If the Precise system evaluation reveals that an applicant requires additional training, Olsten provides that training using the Precise system - at no additional cost - allowing the job applicant to upgrade his/her skills and earning potential.

To date, the Precise system has provided skills assessment and training to more than 1.3 million people worldwide who have applied for jobs through Olsten in Europe, as well as in North and South America.

"Olsten developed the Precise evaluation system to ensure that employees' PC skills are assessed consistently and more accurately on a globally accepted scale," said Liam Maxwell, office technology manager of Olsten's European operations. "While other companies vary their testing mechanism from country to country, we are the only staffing services company that has translated and implemented a single evaluation system throughout its global operations."

Olsten Corporation (NYSE: OLS), with 1,500 offices on three continents, is an acknowledged leader in each of its businesses. The company operates more than 1,000 staffing offices -- providing staffing solutions and assignment employees to business, industry and government -- in North America, South America and Europe under Olsten Staffing Services and related brands. Olsten's information technology division, IMI Systems, provides design, programming and maintenance of computer systems, including focused solutions for applications management, quality assurance and enterprise support services to clients in North America and Western Europe. Olsten Health Services, with more than 400 offices in the United States and Canada, provides health care Network Services and caregivers for home health care and institutions; home infusion and other therapies; and marketing, distribution and staffing solutions for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device firms.

In 1998, Olsten Corporation achieved revenues of $4.6 billion and employed approximately 700,000 people serving approximately 600,000 client/patient accounts.