The Agency Workers Directive (AWD) will be enforced in the UK from 1st October 2011. The main purpose of the Directive is to ensure the equal treatment and protection of temporary agency workers in terms of basic working and employment conditions which are pay, working hours, overtime, rest periods, holidays, training, access to shared facilities and internal job vacancies.
Equal treatment does not include the provision of a pension, occupational sick pay, redundancy pay, bonuses intended to reward longevity of service or loyalty and will not include any changes to the employment status of the temporary agency worker. An essential part of the Directive is that equal treatment rights will not come into effect until the temporary agency worker has been in an assignment for 12 weeks.
The implementation of the AWD will have major implications on the cost and use of agency workers. Yet research has suggested that approximately 60% of HR professionals are unaware that the Directive will be in place in less than 12 months.
This is a significant piece of legislation that carries severe consequences for non-compliance; getting it wrong could result in serious financial and legal ramifications. It is therefore essential for companies to start getting to grips with the potential areas of impact. Below are a few key questions and areas companies can be focusing on in anticipation of the Directive:
1. How many temporary agency workers will be in place for more than 12 weeks?
It is important to gain an understanding of the current level of temporary agency usage within your organisation to understand the impact the Directive will have. A data analysis exercise would help to firstly establish how many temporary workers are in place, where they are, how long they have been in place, and for how long their contracts are due to continue. This would provide a good insight into what issues you may face and to understand how many temporary agency workers would qualify for equal treatment.
You should also consider and try to forecast what your business needs will be in 2012 onwards, to help further estimate and understand the impacts of the Directive. Please be aware that it does not matter if the temporary agency worker is full or part time and if they have worked in the job through different agencies. If the job is similar then they would be entitled to equal treatment once they reach the 12 week period. They would need to have had a break between assignments of at least 6 weeks in order to renew the qualification period.
For example, a temporary agency worker has worked as a Customer Service Officer through agency A for 10 weeks before leaving. He is then recruited back 1 week later as a Customer Service Administrator through agency B for 10 weeks. As the worker has been recruited to do a similar role involving the same tasks he will be entitled to claim for equal treatment after the 12 week qualifying period.
2. Is there a cost implication to providing equal treatment?
As discussed above equal treatment refers to pay, holiday, training and collective facilities, such as childcare, so it is inevitable that cost will be attributed to these factors.
Where there is a difference in basic pay between the permanent member of staff and the temporary agency worker, this should be budgeted for accordingly. If holiday entitlement is above the statutory minimum for permanent members of staff this will have further cost implications.
It will be necessary to see if there are employees doing a similar role within the organisation who could be used as a comparison for a temporary agency worker. Also be aware when recruiting new permanent members of staff that their salaries and holiday entitlement etc. may be used by temporary agency workers as a bench mark for entitlement.
3. Review your internal processes
It is vital to ensure all hiring managers within the company are aware of the Directive and fully understand the implications of equal treatment and what this means for their temporary workers. It is important to ensure they have access to all necessary information, guidance and procedures to enable them to work effectively to ensure compliance with the Directive.
More details about the Directive will be provided throughout the year to help with the implementation process. However, it is our hope that this information will help to emphasise its importance and the need to use temporary workers in the manner in which they should be. To read more on the equal treatment of temporary agency workers more generally within your organisations, please click here.
The PPS team are on hand to assist and help make this transition run as smoothly as possible, therefore should you have any questions or would like to discuss this further please contact Mandy Glover, Head of Managed Services on 0121 702 0716.
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Pingback by Recruitment Agencies 2011 and beyond « PPS' Recruitment Blog — February 25, 2011 @ 4:00 pm
I have never read such detail information on this kind of issue.It will useful for us.
Comment by Construction jobs oxford — April 25, 2011 @ 1:42 pm
[...] and of interest to one of our clients, we do not hesitate in sending this across. We feel that sharing information shows that we are interested in what our clients do, shows our knowledge of the industry in which we [...]
Pingback by How PPS maintains long lasting partnerships « PPS' Recruitment Blog — August 15, 2011 @ 10:08 am
I suspect organisations will try and lay off workers before the qualifying period, but I understand unions are well aware of this and are waiting for this to happen,with pre empted action at tribunals.
Comment by D Cosgrove — September 30, 2011 @ 7:25 pm
[...] Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) was implemented in the UK on 1st October 2011, as a direct result of European [...]
Pingback by The AWR is finally here… « PPS' Recruitment Blog — October 11, 2011 @ 9:50 am
I note pension benefits are excluded but what about death in dervice benefits where employers offer this to permanent staff from day one irrespective of the employee joining the pension scheme.
Comment by John Hanafin — October 12, 2011 @ 9:05 am
In the public sector they offload you one day before your qualifying period is up, or if you open your mouth and say you want to be made perm, you get sacked. Some staff have gone on years on same salary, no benefits and or real careers developement. In the end become de-skilled.
Comment by Max — November 22, 2011 @ 3:27 pm