Employers beginning to plan for the Agency Worker Regulations (AWR)

The Head of Policy at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, Gillian Econopouly, said that \”The fact that over 40% of employers are still considering their response to the regulations underlines how important it is for recruiters to be engaging with clients. For some employers, the AWR has been a catalyst for a more fundamental review of how they use flexible staff. In some cases, this may lead to a slight reduction in overall numbers. However, the latest data indicates that this will be counter-balanced by businesses who are planning to actually increase their use of agency staff over the next twelve months. Recent employer workshops have seen more businesses focusing on getting best value from the flexible workforce – rather than simply seeing it as a cost to be managed. There is also an employer brand issue at play when considering how to implement the regulations. These are positive messages that we will continue to amplify through our ongoing client campaign\”.

Recently the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) said that the temporary jobs market in the UK had slowed to its slowest pace so far in 2011 with the industry body attributing the slowdown to employer uncertainty over the new Agency Worker Regulations (AWR). The REC found in its monthly jobs market survey that permanent staff appointments ‘rose at a strong and accelerated rate in April’, temporary / contract billings reduced to the lowest level of 2011 so far and the rate of inflation for permanent staff salaries increase to its highest rate for 9 months.

Commonwealth Contractors

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