The Works Blog & Events
Latest AWR event in Barnsley
The Works latest AWR event in Barnsley went down a storm this morning.
A special thanks to Fiona Coombe for coming along and sharing her knowledge with us.
We would also like to thank everybody that attended. The questions and discussions that you provided made this event relevant and informative.
Feedback and comments:
Really insightful, I wasn’t aware of the Regs. I will take this back to our Compliance Manager for the Group. Gary Dale
Raised my awareness of the challenges our company may face following this new legislation.
Sam Roberts
Improved understanding of AWR regulations and impact on our business. Opportunity for networking.
Kevin Spacey
The Works Launch On-site Construction Service
Due to popular demand The Works Recruitment are excited to introduce secure on-site offices.
In conjunction with our valued client of fifteen years W G Search Ltd, portacabins are now being placed on-site to assist clients and our team to manage and assess their ever changing workforce.
This new service introduces a host of on-site possibilities and facilities:
· Complete Interview and Testing Facilities
· Health & Safety Induction Suite
· Wi-Fi
· VoIP Phones
· Biometric Clocking Systems
· Branding of the cabin in your corporate colours or ours
Perfect for a complete contract management package servicing large numbers of temporary workers.
The cabin has a variety of purposes; from bulk inductions and on-board recruitment days/ fairs to a one-stop-shop for complete site and sub-contractor co-ordination. (no more excuses for being short of labour)
Cabins are available on-site for anything from two weeks up to two years.
We have a roaming team of expert recruiters to assist and advise you on anything from HR issues to creative candidate generation.
Please follow the link to express your interest or find out more.
Results from our Valentine campaign
Top comments:
If you have flexible working hours – one can take care of personal development. It is getting costlier to live these days, so I won’t mind the money part, but surely, ‘New Challenges’ is the key to keeping things exciting at work!
I love my job! I work in a driven environment where I’m constantly challenged and able to do new things. My colleagues and customers make my day, every day. (extra £££ would be nice though!)
If i got a proper biscuit with my cuppa, not just any biscuit, an M&S biscuit!
More responsibility, and greater freedom to be innovative in my approach to my work :-)
Having the satisfaction of doing some thing with my life, and providing a decent and stable life for my family.
Being able to work for something you believe in makes all the difference. I learned that lesson the hard way money doesn’t buy happiness. That’s why I am very thankful to have the job that I do now!
From my experience, job satisfaction is tied directly to how valued an employee feels. If you feel you are making a contribution and you are valued by the organization, you will typically have job satisfaction. Money, power, titles and all the other things we believe will make us love our job are all a mirage. None of that will matter if you feel you are not valued.
Free lunches (and cakes and biscuits) and finishing early on a Friday!
Our Valentine winner is…
Congratulations to Chiara Bordignon.
Chiara has been working with one of our clients George Barkers for the last 6 months as an Electrical Sub-Assembler. She joined the team from Belluno, Italy where she graduated University studying Technical Translations.
“I am very happy to win the prize. I live in Bradford and am very excited to come to Leeds and try one of the Chinese restaurant here. “
AWR: Questions and answers uncovered
A PDF resource that can be saved and printed answering a lot of the questions that managers and business owners are currently asking about AWR.
Click here to view
Summary of questions:
1. Assignment lengths
1.1 What are the current average lengths of assignments?
1.2 What proportion of assignments last more than 12 weeks?
1.3 If assignments are relatively short, are they either regularly extended or regularly repeated?
1.4 Is there an average break period between assignments? If yes, what is it?
1.5 Are breaks between assignments of varying lengths and ad hoc?
1.6 Where there are breaks in assignment, does the agency worker usually go back into the same role at the client or are there a variety of roles which one agency worker can undertake?
2. Employment status of temporary workers supplied to the client?
2.1 What is the status of the temporary workers you currently supply or propose to supply to the client?
2.2 Are they genuinely self-employed? Are they engaged via limited companies whether their own limited companies or umbrella companies?
2.3 Does the client use more than one agency to engage temporary workers?
2.4 Are there intermediaries in the supply chain including master or neutral vendors? If not now, does the client propose introducing a master or neutral vendor arrangement in the future?
2.5 Does the client use a managed service arrangement for some or all of its workforce?
3. Pay and benefits
3.1 What are the current rates of pay paid to agency workers? (You will need to break this down into categories of worker based on type of work, skills or seniority where relevant)
3.2 How does this currently compare with equivalent direct recruits? Does the client operate formal pay bands?
3.3 What are the current overtime rates being offered to direct recruits? How do these rates differ from the overtime rates currently offered to temporary workers?
3.4 What bonus payments and commissions are currently offered to direct recruiters and may need to be applied to temporary staff?
4 Holiday entitlements
4.1 What holidays are the client’s directly engaged workers entitled to?
5 Collective facilities and permanent employment opportunities
5.1 What collective facilities are currently open to the client’s own directly
5 Collective facilities and permanent employment opportunities
5.1 What collective facilities are currently open to the client’s own directly engaged workforce?
5.2 Which, if any, of these collective facilities are currently available to temporary workers?
5.3 How does the client advertise internal vacancies? Are there notice-boards or intranet sites that all workers at its site(s) have access to?
6. Maternity rights for agency workers
6.1 What proportion of the client’s workforce is female?
6.2 What sort of roles does the client have? If a pregnant agency worker’s assignment is terminated, will the agency be able to source suitable alternative work at that client or will they have to find suitable alternative work elsewhere?
6.3 Are there any health and safety issues at the client’s site(s) which may pose particular concern to pregnant agency workers and which may mean that their assignments must be terminated?
7 Limiting the risk of tribunal claims
7.1 What current mechanisms are in place to deal with complaints from agency workers?
7.2 Has the client recognised one or more unions? How does the client engage with the union(s)? What is the state of relations with the union(s)?
Yorkshire Unemployment increase by just over 3%
Unemployment in Yorkshire and the Humber has increased by 3.4% to 244,000 in the three months to February, official figures show.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that 8,000 more people were unemployed in the region during the period.
Across the country a record number of 16 to 24-year-olds are out of work and more people than ever are in part-time jobs because they can’t find full-time employment.
Unemployment jumped by 44,000 in the final three months of 2010 to just under 2.5 million, a jobless rate of 7.9%.
But the youth unemployment rate is now 20.5% following a 66,000 increase to 965,000, the highest figures since records began in 1992.
The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance increased by 2,400 in January to 1.46 million, with the number of female claimants rising for the seventh month in a row to reach almost 450,000, the highest figure since 1996.
The number of people working part-time because they could not find full-time jobs increased by 44,000 to 1.19 million, the highest total since records began in 1992.
The number of people classed as economically inactive rose by 93,000 over the latest quarter to 9.36 million, a rate of 23.4%, including 1.57 million who retired before the age of 65, the highest figure since records began in 1993.
Ministers said they welcomed news that the labour market was “stabilising” after a “difficult” last few months, pointing out that there has been a sharp jump in the number of vacancies to half a million across the country, the highest in two years.
Work and Pensions Minister Chris Grayling said: “It’s been a difficult few months in the labour market but things do now seem to be stabilising. The rise in the number of vacancies is particularly encouraging.”
Source: Berwickshire News
Introduction to the Agency Workers Regulations
AWR Implementation Guidance
Background Information
The information below provides some very broad background information on the new Agency Worker
Regulations.
The Regulations in context
Following many years of debate in Brussels, the Regulations will come into force in England, Wales
and Scotland on 1 October 2011 (Northern Ireland will have its own regulations, expected to come
into force on the same date). It is important for clients and recruiters to begin preparing for
implementation in order to minimise any impact on the effective supply of flexible staff.
The aim of the Regulations is to ensure that the principle of equal treatment – which already applies
to fixed-term and part-time workers – is extended to agency staff once they have completed a 12
week qualifying period. Equal treatment measures cover pay and working conditions but do not
fundamentally affect employment status or the dynamics of how agency staff are placed and
managed.
The initial priority is to assess any potential impact on direct costs, risks and working relationships
with clients – in particular by looking at whether current pay rates might need to be reviewed. Whilst a
high proportion of temporary and contract staff earn the same or more than equivalent permanent
staff, there may be greater impact on some sectors and job categories.
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), the representative body for the UK
recruitment industry, is working with Government to ensure a workable implementation of the
Regulations. Official guidance will be published over the coming months but employers and their
recruitment partners are already starting to work together ahead of the October 2011 deadline.
—
We have documents that you can view and download here
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