Category: Blog

What are Agency Regulations  How Can They Help You?

All recruitment agencies must abide to two key regulations, these being the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and  Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. The agency regulations were put in place to ensure the rights of agency workers and to prevent agencies from exploiting their workers in the jobs they carry out

 Important Agency Regulation – Candidates Cannot be Charged  

The following points are included in the Employment Agencies act but here is a summary of some of what these agency regulations are and how they help. As an agency it is illegal to charge job seekers for being a candidate.

 Important Agency Regulation – Written Contract 

When it comes to an agency hiring a worker, the worker must be provided with a Key Information Document. This document includes important details such as pay, holiday leave, legally required deductions (such as Statutory deductions (Tax and National insurance) and also whether they are under contract for services or a contract of employment. This is just a verification for the Agency and worker to make the engagement official and have all the important details noted on a Key Information Document which helps both parties.

Important Agency Regulation- Worker’s Suitability

Agencies are legally obligated to assess the suitability of a candidate for a particular job role. This benefits job seekers as agencies should never expect you to do a job that you are not suitable for.

Important Agency Regulation – Workers Must Be Paid 

The Agency shall pay the Agency worker for all hours worked regardless of whether the Agency has received payment from the client for those hours.

Direct Response Employment Services, have zero tolerance towards modern-day slavery. This is why educate are workers and staff in prohibiting human trafficking and slavery in any of the sectors we supply. 

Forced Labour

To assess if someone is undergoing forced labour there are some really obvious signs, someone who looks extremely tired or overworked has most likely worked more hours than the allowed amount. A person may be getting underpaid compared to the hours and amount of work they have done, they may be facing threats from their employer and so carry on working in fear. Even something as simple as getting your staff to work late consistently without extra pay would classify as forced labour.

Child Abuse

This is again quite easy to spot as a child undergoing extreme abuse will be showing some concerning signs, these include dark bruising on their face and limbs, going off with unfamiliar people, they may even be intoxicated in some cases as they may have been coerced into drinking. We understand how morally wrong the act of child abuse is and strongly encourage people to come forward if they have experienced or witnessed it in the workplace.

Sexual Exploitation

This range of modern-day slavery tends to happen in the residential housing sector, this is because it is out of the way of the public and private, notify the police and your employer if you notice any of the following: Someone sleeping on work premises, being subjected to sexual abuse or harassment. The persons pay getting given to someone else if they are abusing substances. When noticing these signs, you can help in the global effort to call out workplaces that engage in sexual assault and ensure people can safely go about their working day.

Criminal Activities

In some jobs people may not be getting their desired pay, this may be due to their role and position or employer. This could lead others to try and make money a different way and undergoing illegal activity. Some signs to look out for when looking for criminal activity are; damaged windows being covered up on the inside, people using machinery to produce and grow illegal drugs, someone who is acting unordinary and suspicious.

Direct Response Employment Services are registered members of the GLAA. Our membership enables us to legally supply temporary workers into the aforementioned sectors. In line with GLAA stipulation towards agency workers, we ensure that all workers are paid and receive all benefits that they are entitled to.

If Covid has taught us anything, it is how quickly people and organisations can adapt to new ways of working with a lot of employees adapting to working from home, offices being out of bounds which has meant new ways in conducting and carrying out interviews for open vacancies.

With the current technology surrounding us and the various applications such as Zoom, Microsoft teams, Facetime and much more video interviewing has become a normal part of the interview process and it is here to stay.

Video interviewing and face to face interviews are very similar in the sense that you can both see each other face to face and carry out normal questions and answers as part of a typical interview, but what are you missing and what should you pay attention to, to ensure you make a fantastic first impression during your video interview.

We have conducted a quick guide on things you should be considering when preparing for your Video Interview.

Dress Code:

Dressing smartly for an interview is an absolute must in any interview circumstance and more so when video interviewing. We appreciate being at home, you feel comfortable and let’s face it we often want to sit around in our PJ’s or our comfy clothes so its easy to feel like this when attending an interview from the comfort of our home.

Ensure you would dress the same and present yourself smartly as if you were attending a face-to-face interview on site, Suited, and booted as they say.  It not only gets you in the right frame of mind for your interview but also sets a fantastic first impression.

Technology:

No matter what equipment you are using for your interview computers, laptop, phone etc always ensure you test your equipment before the video interview.

Ensure the appliance is amply charged or plugged in, check your internet connection, and ensure you have the right apps downloaded for your interview.

It is also a good idea to check your camera is in working order and positioned well so the interviewer can see you clearly.

Room Lighting and background:

This is an important factor to ensure you are in a bright space for your interview, you want to ensure your interviewer can see you clearly and that the room is not too dark.

Its also important to make sure you have an appropriate background, so check there is no offensive posters or pictures behind you.

If you are using Zoom or teams and the various backgrounds, you can set may seem like a good idea but during an interview its best to keep it simple.

Remove Distractions:

Make sure you are clear from distractions, if anyone else is within the household advise them you are not to be disturbed and to try and ensure any voices, music and TV are kept low for the duration of your interview.

Ensure any pets are left outside of the room to avoid any unwelcomed guest appearances.

Last but not least, Relax and enjoy your interview and if you follow the above you are sure to make a great first impression.

Skills vs Attitude:

When searching for that perfect new hire to join your team you of course want to ensure you make the right decision but is recruiting on skills and experience more important than hiring on attitude?

So, what is the difference?

From a hiring perspective, skills reflect the expertise and knowledge of a candidate whether this be from an educational background or experience and skills they have gained through previous employment. Such as an engineering business may be looking for candidates who have qualified with a certain technical qualification or engineering experience with a niche field.

Attitude is all about the candidate, their personality, and their willingness to learn, develop and passion for the product or the company. For example, a candidate may not have the right skills and experience but offer commitment and the eagerness to learn.

Looking at the statistics:

So, on average latest statistics show that only 20% of new job hirers are successful in the long run and actually commit to the job role and company long term.

60% of the new hirers who do not last long term is down to personality and cultural fit within an organisation. 

Whereas 14% of candidates actually leave or lose their job due to lack of experience or skills.

So, what is best?

There is no straight answer here as it is very much dependable on the role that the hirer is looking to recruit in, for example health care professional such as nurses or those within a certain discipline it will be essential that they have relevant qualifications and experience to fulfil the role and duties.

However, there is a significant benefit for hiring on attitude, Employees with the right attitude, positive mindset and passion in their personality means a better culture fit for your organisation.

Skills can be taught and anyone with the right attitude who is willing to learn and potentially moulded often prove to be more successful and more long term.

Personality and culture fit is crucial in any business, someone may have the right skills and experience on paper but having a bad attitude can prove a negative impact on your business.

Organisations will have their own methods of recruitment with each organisation taking a different approach and like above there are some roles where skills and experience is crucial to the job role, but always bare in mind that stats suggest outing attitude above skills and experience is more successful in the longer term.

If you would like some assistance with recruiting or struggling to find the right candidate please give us a call for a general chat and we would be happy to share some of our experience, advice and tips.

The Benefits of recruiting remotely. 

If 2020 has taught us anything, it is how much companies have had to adapt to a new way of working with the majority of companies having to opt for remote working. 

This was a change which a lot of employers and employees had to adapt to quickly and luckily for most it was a smooth process where we all adapted successfully. 

Although I myself have missed the social element that working in the office brings, remote working has proved successful and is increasing in popularity, so we have asked ourself, what are the benefits of working remotely and how do we go about recruiting remote employees. 

Remote working Benefits: 

Remote working has many benefits both to employers and employees and we have listed just a few of the top benefits below. 

1. Attract a bigger pool of candidates.
2. Remove Geographical barriers, being able to attract candidates nationally and globally. 
3. Reduce Cost in the office such as utilising a smaller office space. 

Following a survey this year, 54% of workers would be willing to quite their jobs for one that offers remote working. 

Attracting the best talent. 

With any job advert it is important you make your advert stand out and provide as much information as you can, this way candidates applying have a good understanding if they meets your requirements  and would be a good fit on the get go. 

1. Include a company brief about your company, what you do and your values and missions. 
2. Job title that communicates the key role of the positions. 
3. Key responsibilities for the role. 
4. Required experience, education, and qualifications for the role. 
5. Include key works in your advert to attract the right audience. 
6. Salary ensure you include the salary and any benefits relation to the job and working hours. 

Based on a recent survey, a job advert which includes salary details gets 75% more views than ones that have no salary information. 

The Interview: 

Interviewing is an important aspect of recruiting and gives you and the candidate a good chance to get to know each other and to work out if it is the right fit, which is why it is so important to get interviews right especially now when video interviewing is now the norm. 

1. Ensure you are in a quite place to carry out a virtual interview where you will not be interrupted. 
2. Check Equipment prior to the video interview, check cameras are working and that your internet connection is in good working order. 
3. Prepare interview questions in advance of the interview. 
4. Make the employee that will be working with the candidate apart of the recruitment process. 
5. Set a time limit for the interview, it is easy to get carried away especially on video call so ensuring you have a set time sets good expectations. 

82% of candidates who have had a negative or unprepared interview with a company can change their mind on the role and withdraw from the process, so you need to ensure you prepare as much as you would with face to face interviews and be engaging. 

Communication is Key: 

So you have found your new remote employee which is great but this means you need to ramp up on your communication with the candidate to ensure a smooth run throughout any notice period so they are all set for their intended start date. 

1. Check in with the employee regularly to see how they are doing through their notice period via a range of channels such as phone, text message, emails, and social media. 
2. Ensure the candidate is set up prior to their start with an email account, any log in details and with any equipment they may need. 
3. Being remote often means you can sometimes feel you are not a part of team so to encourage you new employee send a card through the post welcoming them or have a quick video call with the team to introduce them. 

The main tip employers need to ensure when you have remote staff is communication and engagement if you are getting this right then you can guarantee a smooth and enjoyable relationship and really gain from the benefits of offering remote work.

A Candidate Rich Market: 

For the last few years, it has very much been a candidate led market, with skills shortages across the UK and skilled candidates having the option to pick and choose, often more than 1 job offer on the table. 

Recruitment agencies have been relied on heavily to utilise on their knowledge, experience, database and sourcing techniques to assist companies through their hiring process, it is not only invaluable tool to be partnered with an agency but it saves time and in the long term money. 

Along comes 2020!

This year has been a very different year across the globe hitting companies financially and with a large number of people losing jobs and floods of redundancies across the UK. 

It definitely flips the job market around, but I think it is more important now to partner with and source help from a recruitment agency. 

With more people on the job market and the current unemployment rising has meant that one single job post advertised receives a significant volume of applications, often reaching the 100-plus mark. 

The Reality: 

This all sounds great but having a large volume of applications does not necessarily mean they are skilled and experienced in the area you are recruiting in and can often make the recruitment process harder and more time consuming. 

Let’s face it, do companies really have the time to sift through hundreds of applications carefully, reading through CVs and applications and ensuring each candidate is responded to respectively. 

It is time consuming and not cost effective to the business, not only that you want to ensure that during this pandemic or post pandemic world that you are finding the best talent to grow with your organisation. 

This is where we can assist, we take out all that time and stress when it comes to recruitment from managing the whole process for you. 

We can assist with the following:

• Assisting with writing of job descriptions, bench marking salaries and general advice on the role. 
• Full job advertisement across a wide range of job boards and social media channels
• Short listing of candidates
• Responding to unsuccessful candidates 
• We pre-screen and interview all candidates prior to submission
• Arranging interviews
• Support throughout the whole offer staff along with handling rejections
• Further support following a candidate starting. 

If you would like some advice on your recruitment campaign or want to find out more about working for an agency, then please get in touch as we would be delighted to discuss with you. 

Although it seems like Christmas is still far away, it is fast approaching with just a number of weeks left and I can imagine you may already be planning for that somewhat busy period.

During this busy period it’s the time of the year where companies often look for additional temporary support to help them through those peak times and to cover staff holidays, which is where agencies come in.

Christmas for most is a known to be a jolly and happy time of the year but can be problematic time to employees and companies alike, with the pace of companies ramping up and employees wanting time off to spend with friends and family during this festive time.

Here are some of our top tips to ensure you have a smooth festive period:

1. Communicate with Employees, try and discuss with them as early as possible if they have any plans for holiday and remind employees to book in advance, this gives you a better chance of knowing how many staff you have available during these times and help plan employees time off accordingly.
2. Action and Plan, now you have an understanding or better idea of how many staff will be on holiday and an idea when, now is the time to plan and take action. Sit down and work out how many staff you will need within each department and do you have enough staff to ensure continuity within the work place.
3. Are you going to be short staffed? If so there are a couple of paths you can use to try and resolve this and ensure continues smooth running of the business. One could be using existing workforce, this could be shuffling employees around to cover in different departments or perhaps asking existing employees to do overtime. Another solution could be to look for a temporary solution via a local agency.
4. Executive your plan, now you have a rough idea of what staffing issues you may face during this festive period its time to put this place into action and remember if all does not go to plan agencies are here to help.

Planning effective holiday cover or cover during busy periods is essential to the success of any business. Remember be open with employees, take your time with planning and aim to plan in advance. These steps will help ensure you are ahead of the game and avoid any last minute stresses.

If you would like to speak to a local agency about how we can help cover over the Christmas period then please get in touch and one of our friendly consultants will be happy to discuss.

The End of Furlough – So what is next? 

Undoubtedly Covid-19 has resulted in a major impact on businesses globally which has resulted in companies losing money and ultimately having to work at a reduced task force.

The Furlough Scheme announced by the chancellor was a blessing to a lot of companies around the UK giving them a way to reduce staffing costs to keep businesses afloat and also to keep employees job and still earning a salary. 

With Furlough payments ending at the end of October, what does this mean for businesses and employees, and what is next?  

Say Hello to the Job Support Scheme: 

Immediately following the end of furlough, businesses will be able to access the job support scheme for six months from 1st November 2020. The new scheme is designed for SMEs or larger firms that can prove their revenue has fallen as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Under the scheme, the government will top up a salary when a business cannot afford to take back an employee full-time.

To be eligible for the scheme, employees must work at least a third of their normal hours and the government and employer will each pay one-third of the remaining wages. The employee must have been on the business’s payroll since 23rd September 2020 and support payments will be capped at £697.92 per month. Employees can be made redundant under the new scheme, and businesses cannot use the money from the scheme to subsidise any redundancy packages.

To find out more about the Jon Support scheme then check out the government website link here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/job-support-scheme

What additional job support is available?

On 8th July, the government announced the job retention bonus as part of it’s plan for jobs 2020 with a view to improve job retention and boost the economy following the easing of lockdowns across the UK. Under the new scheme, employers receive a one-off payment of £1,000 for each employee they bring back from furlough and employ continuously until January 2021.

Additionally, the UK government plans to offer:

• £1,500 for each 16-24 year old given a 6-month work placement
• £1,500-2,000 for apprentices taken on until the end of January 2021

Tips to deal with Cv Rejection

If you are not having much luck on the job searching? CV rejection can take its toll on you after a while, but it is important that you stay positive and do not give up.  

Whether you’ve received multiple rejection emails, or you’ve had no response at all from an application there are several steps you can take to help you make it through this disheartening time.  

Stay positive

You must stay positive. We know this easier said than done, but it is vital that you know you are not alone and that this is only temporary.  

You are not going to be without a job forever something will come along. sometimes it takes a little longer to find the right role for you. 

Search smarter not harder

If you have been experiencing rejection, the temptation can be to ramp up your search, apply for lots more jobs and hope that someone gets back to you. But this is not an effective way to job search and means you might end up interviewing for a role you did not really want.  Take your time when searching and applying for jobs,  

Get into a routine

We understand that if you have received several CV rejections it can be disheartening. 

One of the best ways to get over rejection is to get back job hunting make it part of your daily routine. Set aside some dedicated time each day.

Seek feedback

There are a number of ways you can seek feedback on your CV. Firstly, if you have received a rejection call or email from a previous application, ask the recruiter for their feedback. They might be able to tell you which areas let you down and how to make your CV better for next time.  

If you have received multiple rejections, your CV is most likely to be the problem. If this is the case, then you need to have a re-think. 

Good luck