Category Archives: recruitment agencies

With much of the employment law changes recently, its no wonder many recruitment agencies are backing the Tory backbenches that have defied the Government by voting for a referendum on Europe. There intention is simple to give the UK government back its power.

The problem exists because EU social law is now costing the UK around £9 billion. This is due to all the cumbersome regulation that now exists these include things like working time directive, the agency workers directive and the fixed-term employees’ regulations. The Tory backbenches otherwise known as Open Europe believe that repatriate powers back to Westminster will in fact create a £15 billion boost to GDP and potentially create 140,000 jobs.

These estimates are quite astounding and it is when you hear that there argument is not that they do not agree with a single market, Open Europe in fact encourages this for British businesses but it is this one-size-fits-all approach in EU social law that they feel does not allow the government enough control in giving the British public the best opportunity in getting jobs and growing the economy.

My view is that I whole heartedly agree with Open Europe. I know many recruitment agencies have not appreciated the extra red tape and legislation that exist through AWD. It seems that whilst one social law might be right for one country it does not necessary make it right for the other, so for everyone to be shackled by these laws seems too restricting when trying to grow an economy. It seems to me as with many things the EU tries to do, that it is all very well when we are in a booming economy, we can do these changes and try to work more closely together but in the times we are in, it just seems ludicrous to insist on these employment law changes.

Morrisons are having discussions with recruitment agencies about using a loophole to get-out of the new Agency Workers Regulations (AWR).

The AWR was created so that temps get the same rights as permanent members after the temp has been at the same employer for 12 weeks or more. This has forced some employers to look at legitimate routes to waive these rights.

One such option is called the “Swedish derogation”, which basically means the temps are hired directly by the employer and therefore no longer classed as agency worker and so therefore not covered by this new ruling. This of course brings other discrepancies but shows how high usage employers of temps are trying to think outside the box to cope with the new AWR. The end result though will be that these employers will ultimately try to find ways to reduce temp requirements, which is a negative point to recruitment agencies who have built sound business models to supply a service to these employers.

I do think that this is a case of everyone trying to find their feet. It was obvious that these new regulations were going to cause massive disruption but the end result is that this rule exists and recruitment agencies have to work towards it. I also don’t think it is a surprise now that many employers are coming up with starter salary packages to make their comparable as much in their favour as possible.

Recruitment agencies are preparing themselves for a tough year ahead with `The centre for Economics and research` stating that the economy will be at a virtual standstill next year.

With the Euro zone crisis now worsening and the global economy weakening. The worry is that there will be little investment into the UK economy and with other European countries possibly looking for bails outs such as Spain and Portugal, UK taxpayers will have to help out with these bailout packages.

The Bank of England has recently helped with quantity easing by providing a £75 billion injection, however many see this as delaying the inevitable a double dip recession. There have been calls to reduce interest rates further from 0.5% to 0.25% but even if this does not happen, it is probably safe to say interest rates will not increase before mid 2013.

Finance ministers from across the G20 will be in Paris this weekend discussing the euro zone crisis. There have been noises of a continent-wide rescue package worth up to two trillion Euros.

I have to say that I am quite worried about the coming few years, almost a make or break scenario for many countries and the Euro as a whole. With news China’s economy is also on the decrease, it seems that this will have a negative effect on the Global economy and it is very difficult to see where this is all heading towards….

The monthly report by the REC and KPMG would have concerned recruitment agencies as their results showed that the number of vacancies grew by its slowest rate since August 2009.

Bernard Brown from KPMG said that it is only a matter of time before the job market starts to contract. With many employers now cautious over the uk and global economic outlook it is unsurprising that they have taken this approach. It is also quite apparent that there are not enough private jobs being created to combat the amount of job loses in the public sector, one of the hopeful predictions the government made.

The signs point to a higher unemployment figure and without government intervention it seems that the situation could get worst. Medical staffing showed a decline in placements, Accounting staffing was steady and the strongest demand was in Engineering staffing.

The only positive we can look at is at least it was still an increase in vacancies but how much longer this will be the case, only time will tell.

Recruitment agencies are looking at ways of legitimately getting round the new Agency Workers Regulations that stipulates that any temp supplied will have the same benefits as a permanent member of Staff after 12 weeks.

Randstad recently took the view that in some cases they will follow the “Swedish derogation” model. This is a proven model that basically means the recruitment agency takes on the agency worker as a permanent member of staff and would therefore have to carry on paying them in times of now work, which can be as little as 1 hour per week. Randstad did say they will not be aggressive with this model as having agency workers as permanent staff does have it drawbacks as well.

Other recruitment agencies have informed their temporary staff that they cannot be considered of permanent benefits until they have had the same training as the permanent staff.

Then there are employers that are using recruitment agencies to build up a bank of staff for the employer and it is the agency that runs this operation on the employers’ behalf.

It is of course quite apparent that many recruitment agencies and employers are looking at ways round this AWR, methods that will prove successful, well only time will tell. However one thing is clear is that the new regulations are not being embraced by anyone involved and view this new legislation as a hindrance rather than a stimulus to economic growth.

Recruitment agencies are bracing themselves for another dip in the economy as more unwelcomed news trickles through.

The announcement over the weekend that BAE Systems will have 3,000 job cuts is a sign of the times and one of the places that are expected to be hit the hardest is Lancashire facility. This is on the back of slower sales for its Typhoon fighter jet.

This was not a total surprise as chief executive Ian King said last February that the group was suffering from restricted spending from its clients and that 15,000 workers had to be offloaded globally and warned at this point that further job cuts will have to be made in the near future.

This was not the only bad news with E.ON’s announcement that they will be cutting 500 support staff in its Coventry and Nottinghamshire offices after selling their distribution arm of their network. There was also a statement reiterating the company’s need to focus on keeping costs down so to keep costs low for the consumer.

Overall I would be concerned with the state of the global economy it seems that every time we see signs of green shoots, this is closely followed by bad news. I think that this has happened so many times now no one believes we will come out of this recession any time soon and expect more of a rollercoaster ride.

Recruitment agencies are on tender hooks at the moment, with the uncertain situation of the AWR about to come into force from the 1^st of October.

The new EU job law stipulates that any temporary worker that works for the same employer for more than 12 weeks will be entitled to the same rights, pay and benefits as a permanent member of staff is causing many problems for employers. To the point that realistically half a million workers may lose their jobs just before Christmas, why you may ask? As 12 weeks after the new regulations kickS in, brings you up to Christmas time and so decision time for employers to either keep temps or remove them.

This issue has come at an awful time in the UK as it is trying to rebuild its economy and one of its greatest tools is a flexible work force, which is what temps provide. The idea of forcing employers to make these temps in essence permanent after 12 weeks, will greatly reduce their dependence on a flexible workforce and will probably result in employers holding out for a longer period of time before committing new staff, resulting in slower growth as well.

There is still a chance the government might withdraw from the AWR in the eleventh hour but being the 19^th September today it is extremely close to deadline day. I for one am amazed these conditions are still going ahead, imagine an employer will have to put temps on a pension scheme after 12 weeks and be involved in all appraisal reviews and staff related performance bonuses, the logistics of doing all this is much more extreme than people first think.

It is one thing to try and improve working conditions and create equality but it is another to remove the carpet beneath Employers feet in using a quick, efficient and a cost effective method for increasing productivity or services. I do hope the government take one more look at this ill timed regulation and look to at least delay its introduction until a full analysis of its implications are derived.

More and more people are using Gotorecruitmen.co.uk to find and send recruitment agencies their requirements.

The website that is now in its 3^rd year has gone from strength to strength with such agencies as Reed, Hays, Select and many more endorsing the website by listing on there. The website continuously strives to improve its performance and to this end Gotorecruitment.co.uk is proud to announce a new version of the website to be released in the coming weeks.

The main focus was enhancing the directory’s usability and making sure each end user understand the capabilities of the website, so we have had a thorough refresh and improved functionality. This has also stretched right through to the backend system where we have listened to the thoughts of many users and made some essential tweaks.

The overall site and goals have stayed the same and we have stayed true to our unique selling point of one roof for all aspects of using recruitment agencies, we hope you will enjoy this new version and we will have a more in depth article nearer the time of release.

The success of Gotorecruitment.co.uk is down to all of you and we thank you for this and hopefully this new version demonstrates that we will reinvest and improve what is already a successful service.

Recruitment agencies would have enjoyed the endorsement Nick Clegg gave to the high-tech industry in light of Sheffield’s pro active approach.

ITM Power is developing a hydrogen fuel based system for vehicles which is attracting considerable interest. The technology will hopefully be used to eventually power vehicles with the resulting fumes being steam and hence eco friendly.

Nick Clegg said that manufacturing cities like Sheffield are instrumental in rebuilding the economy and high-tech companies such as ITM power offer us this opportunity.

The managing director of IT power reiterated the exciting times for their company, with vehicles running on their products having the ability to travel up to 400 miles, rather than the less than impressive 100 miles on electric cars.

I see this as good support for this industry, I believe any type of innovation is an attempt to improve our ways of living and hopefully make things cost effective for the end consumer as well.