Creative Minds Needed in Governmetn to Safeguard Jobs say the REC

The close of the consultation on the Agency Workers Directive on 31st July is a significant milestone in the implementation of controversial new EU regulations that have been debated in Brussels and Whitehall since 1999.  The Directive provides for equal treatment between agency workers and direct recruits after 12 weeks of an assignment. After what has been a heavily politicised debate, it is now down to the practicalities of how the EU regulations, that are ill-suited to the agency work model in the UK, can best be implemented. Through the work of the Agency Work Commission and the feedback of thousands of recruitment professionals in the marketing, media and creative recruitment industry, the REC has developed a blueprint for a workable implementation of the Agency Workers Directive. Commenting on what is at stake with the new regulations, Rupert Wallis, Chair of REC Media, Marketing & Creative said:  “The Agency Workers Directive is well meaning, however not necessarily well thought out. The timing couldn't be worse for the recruitment industry with the recession causing many recruiters to considering closing their temp desks. The extra administrative burden of this legislation could hasten their departure. With unemployment at record levels, the Government should surely be encouraging employers to create jobs. This legislation may make the process more complicated and potentially costly for employers and also restrict job opportunities.” Key demands from the REC include: 

• The definition of pay should be restricted to basic hourly rate. Finding out different rates of holiday pay, bonuses and overtime rates for each individual assignment will be very onerous

• Comparators should not be used to establish equal treatment in the first instance. Even people doing broadly similar jobs are, in many instances, on different rates of pay. Where permanent employees are on published payscales this should be the first step to establishing equal treatment
• Temp to perm fees do not act as a barrier to permanent employment and should not be tampered with in these Regulations
• The availability of agency workers as a flexible labour resource will be key for businesses when we come out of the downturn. Given this, the Directive should not be implemented until the last possible moment in 2011

• High end flexible workers are not the type of individuals that the legislation is aiming to protect and we must find ways of avoiding unnecessary administration and uncertainty
• The new regulations must not apply to Personal Service Companies (PSCs) as they are providers of business services and not engaged as workers