Taking on agency workers
Using agency staff can be ideal, especially when you need emergency temporary cover. Temporary cover is normally PAYE, whereas contractors normally work through their own Limited company or an umbrella service. These interim solutions are normally used for such demands as specific project increased work loads, maternity cover, long-term sickness cover and many more.
Some facts to consider include:
It is very likely to cost more employing a temporary staff member, than an employee. However, a big benefit is that all of the administration is handled by the recruitment agency and you can let the contractor go at the end of the project or give notice at any time you desire.
The employer usually pays the agency and the agency pays the worker. The rate to the employer will include National Insurance payments, holiday pay and sick pay, as well as an administration fee and profit margin.
It is the agency’s responsibility to meet requirements such as paying the worker at least the national minimum wage, but do some research to ensure you are happy with the agency’s reputation. Look to see that the agency are REC, APSCo and ARC members, as Project Resource are. If the recruitment agency are members of these recruitment bodies this will give you some assurance that they act professionally and have proven testimonials to verify this. All of these bodies require verification of satisfied employers for the recruitment agencies to become members.
A secondary check is to inspect the recruitment agency website to look for testimonials. I suggest that if you cannot find these that you request these from the recruitment agency.
If you took the contract worker on directly, not via the recruitment agency, if the worker has a poor experience, such as not getting paid on time or the right amount, this will reflect badly on your business. I suggest that if you do find or know a person you want to hire directly, speak with a recruitment agency and ask them to payroll the contractor (as Project Resource can do for you), so you do not have a direct relationship and are not responsible for paying the contractor direct. Using a recruitment business, they should pay the contract worker on time, it is their prerogative to ensure the contract worker is happy.
By law, employment agencies must comply with the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. These regulations stop them, for example, from charging workers fees for finding jobs. The recruitment agency must also ensure a worker has any qualifications legally required to do the work.
Even though agency staff do not work directly for the employer, the employer is still responsible for their health and safety.
You must also comply with rules such as the Working Time Regulations and ensure temporary employees get the rest periods they are entitled to.
I hope you have found this article of interest. For more advice on hiring contract workers call our contracts teams, on 0118-952-2240 or 0121-712-6600. We are specialists in this field. We aim to have any contract need sourced within 24 hours and we ensure that the person/s we supply are right for your business and needs first time, every time.
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I’ve just had this weeks copy of Building magazine land on my desk and noticed that (following my article last week, Crossrail: tender delays!) another company has made the headlines regarding their tender process.
