This month we are proud to be featured in the Recruitment International magazine (page 40) You can read the full story here or read the below.
The 1st October 2011, saw the implementation of the Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) state that agency workers, once in a consistent role at the same company for 12 weeks, will have the right to receive equal treatment with regards to pay and basic working conditions, as permanent staff directly hired by the organisation.
Whilst the regulations are argued to have a positive effect on unemployment levels across the country, a media furore has surrounded the legislation since even before they were first announced and defined in January 2010. Indeed, many recruiters are hugely concerned about the implications they may have on day-to-day tasks.
Rather than see the regulations as an unnecessary administrative burden however, one recruitment consultancy is going against the tide and embracing the change as an opportunity to improve internal processes, differentiate itself from the competition, and ultimately, generate new business.
Thorn Baker, a £21m recruitment consultancy specialising in Construction, Industrial, Facilities Management, Technical & Engineering and Office & Commercial recruitment, was keen to present itself to the market as the agency of choice for being ahead of the game, and worked in tandem with Bond International Software to configure its Bond Adapt recruitment system to ensure AWR compliance.
Embracing the challenges
Despite being announced as long ago as January 2010, there is still a worrying lack of knowledge within the recruitment industry about the AWR and what the regulations will mean for both agencies and their clients alike. There is also a great deal of apathy and hostility towards the AWR, as many have viewed the regulations as an unnecessary headache. Somewhat belated guidance from the Government did little to improve matters, as many, agencies and suppliers alike, used this as an excuse to take no positive action.
In contrast, John Robinson, Director at Thorn Baker, comments,
“Instead of burying our heads in the sand, we decided to buck the trend and take a proactive approach from the outset – unlike many of our competitors – and in so doing, were able to ensure a positive perception of our business and an opportunity to secure client business by being so far ahead of the curve.”
Direct engagement – tailored approach
In November 2010, Thorn Baker invited its clients to a series of six seminars, each presented by law firms, offering practical and detailed guidance on how clients could become and remain AWR compliant. Robinson continues, “The seminars were a roaring success and during this period we managed to engage with over 30% of our client base, educating them on how the regulations would affect them. We also ran client workshops to offer further advice and encourage active participation in the AWR.”
As a direct consequence of these actions, Thorn Baker engaged on a one to one basis with its entire client base to establish individual impact assessments for each of those 1,000 businesses. Robinson continues, “As a result of our efforts, we are entirely confident that our Consultants now have an in-depth understanding of each of their clients’ specific business structures, working practices and requirements. When the time comes, we will therefore be able to deliver entirely bespoke solutions to all of our clients to ensure AWR compliance.”
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer…
One of the biggest challenges faced by recruitment agencies is with regards to the measurement of the 12 week qualifying period. As of 1st October 2011, an agency worker could quite feasibly be appointed to an organisation by a recruitment agency for several weeks and then take a five-week break, before returning to the same company via a different agency. The whole period however, would count as continuous period of employment – a nuance of the legislation that had the potential to cause serious logistical and legal issues across the recruitment industry.
Competing recruitment agencies are therefore being advised to learn to cooperate with each other in an unprecedented fashion to ensure that a foolproof paper trail sits firmly in place. Robinson continues, “We are all going to have to improve our communication with competitors, so that as an industry, we can keep track of where certain agency workers have worked in the past, and for how long. I would encourage all recruitment agencies to confirm dates of employment in writing, as having a compliant paper trail in place will be absolutely critical to the survival of the business if someone ever presents them with an ET1. Indeed, ending up in a tribunal, locked in a battle with a client is commercial suicide for any agency, regardless of how successful they may have been in the past!”
Client-driven configuration
Following the period of direct consultation with each of its clients, Thorn Baker knew that they would also have to bring their internal recruitment system up to speed to cope with the changes. A customer of Bond International Software for over 15 years, Thorn Baker decided to stick to what it knew and requested specific configuration from Bond on its existing Adapt recruitment system to ensure AWR compliance.
Robinson continues, “I relayed all of the information we had gathered from our clients back to my account manager at Bond, and I am delighted to say that many of these initial ideas have translated into the system that is due to be delivered to us in September. Bond has been just as proactive as us in providing a solution that is entirely driven by our precise specifications as a recruiter to the Industrial and Construction sectors, rather than simply providing us with an overly generalised solution that has been driven by software developers and their interpretation of the guidelines.”
“As is typical of many recruitment agencies,” Robinson adds, “our Consultants’ strengths lie in core recruitment competencies – they want to place candidates in roles rather than deal with the additional but necessary paperwork. With the added burden that the AWR will undoubtedly bring, our Consultants’ downfall could be in completing the accompanying administration, but after specifically configuring our system with Bond, they can be rest assured that Adapt will make their lives far simpler and AWR-compliant. For example, ‘bleep messages’ are scheduled to warn Consultants of when an agency worker is approaching the qualifying period, so that they can communicate to the client that the worker is imminently about to require a review of the working arrangement..”
Reaping the benefits
Having begun making all of the necessary changes well in advance of the 1st October deadline, Thorn Baker has achieved what it set out to achieve; it has improved its communication with all clients; it has earned far greater trust from its clients, as the AWR compliant agency of choice, and as a result, it has far better prospects for the future. Robinson continues, “By starting the AWR process so early, and being able to pre-prepare our systems and processes, we are communicating to our clients that we will be compliant well ahead of the deadline and can therefore offer them the assurance of doing what we can to maintain their own compliance – a message of a ‘safe pair of hands’. Because of this fact alone, we have been able to elbow out many of our competitors who were not yet readily prepared for the regulations, and in fact still are not. We have even won positions as agency of choice for many new clients – a clear indication of the importance that the industry is placing on AWR compliance.”
Testament to this importance is the recent success that Thorn Baker has seen in the Construction recruitment market. One particular Construction business hired agency workers through 34 separate recruitment agencies, selecting Site Managers, Labourers and Joiners from a vast array of Consultants. Thorn Baker, however, demonstrated how far ahead of the market their processes were and how many of the 34 were thoroughly unprepared for the new legislation, endangering both themselves and the client organisation, and as a result, is now one of just three agencies that the client hires workers from.
Robinson concludes, “Had we not got ourselves in order by now, we would currently be scrambling around, frantically trying to put the appropriate measures in place to meet the deadline. Instead, thanks to our proactive approach to the regulations, as well as the guidance and personalised service from Bond International Software, we can rest easy, safe in the knowledge that when 1st October comes, Thorn Baker will be suitably prepared.”
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