Research by the Association of Recruitment Consultancies suggests that the contractor workforce in the UK may be about to suffer because of the implementation of AWR.
Slightly over 50% of the survey’s respondents think that at least some of their clients will reduce the their temporary headcount in the next 12 months. Furthermore, a lot believe that clients will need to spend as much as 10% of their working day doing admin tasks now that AWR is in place.
ARC chairman, Adrian Marlowe, said unemployment is at its highest level for decades and the government should be doing everything it can to safeguard agency workers’ jobs and support the companies that hire them. The AWR are causing more harm than good.
He went on to explain that it’s important for the UK to retain a flexible workforce and therefore systems must support both businesses and agency workers. The new AWR don’t benefit either group.
However, these results are in sharp contrast to those discovered by the REC in its recent Recruitment Industry Trends Survey, which found that the recruitment industry grew by 25% in the year to March 2011.
The REC predicts that the recruitment industry will continue to grow and turnover could reach £33.5 billion by 2014.
Kevin Green, the REC’s chief executive, said the recruitment industry is demonstrating resilience, but there is still a long way to go. We’re only six months into the government’s four-year austerity plan and more public sector cuts are on the way.
However, the government now recognises that it is vital for the UK economy to have a flexible workforce and this is a great opportunity for firms to come up with creative ways to use these valuable resources.
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