The Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) is the most significant piece of legislation to have ever impacted the temporary recruitment industry. The new legislation will increase the rights of temporary workers, entitling them to the same treatment as permanent members of staff within the organisation, including the same pay, working hours and holiday. The regulations will work on a 12-week qualifying period, meaning that a temporary worker must be in the same role with the same hirer for 12 weeks before they can qualify for equal treatment.

While there is a lot of information being published on the AWR, there is a lot of confusion about how to approach the regulations, meaning that a startling number of businesses are completely unaware of what the changes will mean for them. With the legislative changes looming closer, and around 1.3 million agency workers in the UK according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, businesses will be struggling to come to terms with their new obligations, and, without proper planning, may find themselves in hot water when the regulations are enforced.

The waste sector employs a large number of temporary workers, meaning that failure to develop a good approach to the regulations could have a detrimental effect on the industry. The sector requires its workers to be trained and skilled towards their specific role, ranging from refuse collectors, to specialist drivers and sort line pickers. Without planning for the regulations, businesses will be forced to release temporary staff before they reach the end of their 12-week qualifying period, or risk incurring costs for either equalling their pay rate or failing to comply. This will have a huge impact of the level of training a temporary worker will have, significantly reducing the quality and productivity of a business’s operations.

In a materials recovery facility (MRF) for instance, training a worker to reach a quality sort line picker level normally takes six to eight weeks, meaning that by the time a picker obtains a good level of performance, the manager will have to let them go. A constant flow of untrained workers entering the MRF could result in the picking line being staffed with largely unskilled pickers who have limited experience on the job, posing a huge risk to health and safety and to the quality of the MRF’s operations.

It is essential that businesses within the sector that use a temporary workforce plan ahead for the regulations and implement a strategy that complies with them. Those businesses that have an understanding of the regulations, and are already thinking about the changes, are displaying a wide range of methods that encompass what the regulations are trying to achieve, while still retaining flexible labour as a viable labour solution.

Forming a strong and reliable relationship with
a recruiter is one of the
most valuable things a business can do while the implementation of the AWR is approaching. Admittedly, the recruitment industry is going to have to work harder, and in a different way than before, in order to tackle the regulations. However, tackling them head on rather than looking for ways to dodge them is the best approach to take.

It is clear that the regulations are not an attempt to hamper businesses in their approach to flexible labour, but more an attempt to ensure better rights for temporary workers. Good practice and professional advice will ensure that the changes need not have a huge impact on operations within the sector, as long as they are thought through and planned for carefully.