Last week, the REC attended an Agency Work seminar run by the JSB, which provided up-to-date insights on how leading organisations are gearing up for the implementation of the Agency Workers Regulations.
Some of the UK’s larger employers have set up special project teams to help them prepare. All areas of an organisation are involved in these teams including employee relations, finance, HR, legal and payroll. Some clients have even involved internal marketing teams to get the message out to their line managers via workshops and company intranet sites.
The REC stated that many clients face a challenge over the increase in different job titles, which makes it difficult for them to compare and predict the impact AWR will have on salary costs. On a positive note, temporary work is now embedded within company resourcing models and the AWR will have no affect on the flexibility and speed of supply of agency workers. Organisations that are undergoing change, such as some public sector bodies, are likely to need more flexible staff rather than less.
Meanwhile, a new suite of AWR compliant model contracts will be available to REC members as from the 29th of July.
This first batch of contracts will comprise such documents as agency workers PAYE terms of engagement, clients’ terms for the supply of temp workers and client terms for the Swedish derogation contract.
Carol Scott, the head of corporate membership at the REC, said updating the contracts had been a Herculean task that the Confederation would have liked to have completed by the end of last month.
However, the guidance from the BIS was held-up and it was necessary to make sure the contracts were word perfect.
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