May « 2011 « Go To Recruitment Employment Blog

31/05/2011

Doncaster NHS spending more on agency staff

Healthcare recruitment agencies were caught in the middle this week, when Unison were shocked to find out that agency spend at Doncaster NHS Trust had risen from £11.8 million to £13.1 million.

The figures published by the trust come in the midst of staff losses and staff restructuring to reduce overall spend, this news incensed Unison and they claim with the money being spent on temps you could in fact hire 12 full time nurses. However the trust has said that it is almost an impossible task, hospitals have to reduce spending and at the same time maintain their services, therefore it is a catch 22 and agency staff, offer that flexibility that permanent staff do not offer.

The trust did add that it has put initiatives into place to combat this recruitment short fall, this will take time but 3 consultants have already been hired on the back of these initiatives and slowly the NHS trust will become better set up for ad hoc and full time recruitment.

In my view, I appreciate the comments made by Unison but surely there can be no argument that in times of change there is a stage by stage process, firstly there has to be a reduction of spend i.e. job losses, then in the interim there needs to be locums to maintain the NHS services whilst the new structure is being created and finally a reduction of temps and more dependency on the new structure. We are of course at stage 2 and therefore dependant in the interim on Healthcare recruitment agencies.

Filed under: healthcare recruitment agencies — Goto @ 10:30

23/05/2011

Rising costs of air travel

Tourism recruitment agencies will be apprehensive of their market at the moment, with rising oil prices and a tentative economy this does not create a good mix for people wanting to travel.

Ryanair is the most recent airline that has said it will be grounding planes over the winter period and that it plans to ground 80 planes, that is twice as many as last year.

This decision by Ryanair was not taken likely in fact as a carrier they are one of the few that produce profits, showing a 26% rise in profits to 401 million Euros for the current financial year. This is even in the period when 14,000 flights being cancelled due to the Icelandic volcanic ash, airport snow closures and traffic control strikes. Michael O’Leary, head of Ryanair, added that they are also in good position because they have hedged themselves against increased oil prices committing to $82 per barrel, which is significantly lower than the current rate. This means that competitors may have to increase their prices to consumers whilst Ryanair can still remain cheaper. However, because of these rising costs and higher surcharges it has been calculated that it will be more profitable to ground 80 planes this winter, which is quite an unfortunate situation.

Tourism in general is improving but with the current state of affairs with oil prices and airport charges are causing many airlines to increase their prices or even ground planes which of course can not be good for the job market.

Filed under: Tourism Recruitment Agencies — Goto @ 10:56

16/05/2011

Music events support 20,000 jobs

Media recruitment agencies would have welcomed a report by the UK music organisation which outlined the economic benefits of the UK Music scene. Its findings were hugely exciting.

The report outlined that 7.7 million visitors spend £1.4 billion in the UK, through festivals and large music events, which in turn supports 20,000 full time jobs. Other findings showed that foreign visitors accounted for 5% of the music visitors but in fact accounted for one fifth of the total spend, which shows the significance of attracting foreign music lovers to the UK.

UK music called upon the government to implement a live music tourism strategy, to ensure that we not only maintain a foothold within the music events industry but to expand and entice more music lovers over. UK music has already submitted some recommendations to the Government this includes overcoming certain visa issues that prevents many people from attending these events.

I believe this news demonstrates the importance of looking at all aspects of our economy, many would not have thought about the economic benefits of holding Festivals and Music events within the UK but this report goes some way to representing the importance of this. It also demonstrates how many foreign visitors are willing to spend once over here so anything we can do to encourage this will only help the economy move forward.

Filed under: Media recruitment agencies — Goto @ 13:38

09/05/2011

Pfizer out, Green energy park in.

Pharmaceutical recruitment agencies would know that Pfizer have left their site in Kent.

BFL Management has been hired to look at opportunities into converting this 300 acre site into an environmental-sustainable energy. The proposal would allow for 60 permanent jobs to be created initially and 400-500 during the 5-10 years of construction.

BFL have written to 6000 local households asking what there thoughts about converting this site and 79% wrote back confirming they would welcome such changes. BFL also added that the site would attract £750 million of investment and that the site would be able to process a variety of recyclable goods.

The talks of doing this are at initial stages at the moment but so far there has been positive feedback, the plans are expected to be showcased in May with the full backing of Kent County Council.

This is obviously a very crucial time for Kent and local households, many of the locals would have lost their jobs and the need to ensure that whatever project/ business that takes over the site has longevity to ensure stability of the community. This is why a Green site is quite intriguing and I can only wait to see what the finished plans will illustrate.

Filed under: pharmaceutical recruitment agencies — Goto @ 11:01

03/05/2011

Who is classed as Self Employed under the AWR?

Recruitment agencies are more confused than ever about which workers are classed out side the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) and it has caused 2 recruitment bodies to disagree with how to best solve this indecisiveness.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation has called for a checklist, that recruitment agencies can use to distinguish if a worker is classed as self employed or not. However the Association of Recruitment Consultancies argued that although the checklist may make it easier for recruitment agencies, it will in fact increase their exposure to the AWR.

The current guidelines states that a worker paid through a limited company does not automatically mean that the person is self employed and that a series of checks would need to be carried out to see what relationship the worker has with the recruitment agency and the hirer. If it is deemed that the worker is acting under the supervision and direction of the hirer then this person may very well be classed as acting within the AWR. It is this kind of detail that would be required to ascertain where the worker lies and clever recruitment agencies have been warned clever wording of contracts will not suffice in analysing the workers status.

To me it all seems rather confusing, a simple checklist does seem quite logical but of course not at the detriment of the worker, hirer and recruitment agency. It is quite clear such as in the construction industry that all 3 parties are happy with the arrangement that currently exists and to have new regulations that make it harder for the hirer to get the job done is something we should of course not advocate especially in this sensitive economic climate.

Filed under: recruitment agencies,recruitment agency — Goto @ 10:15