Recruitment Matters July 2104

Recruitment Matters Issue 27 July 2014

Trade Association of the Year

What’s inside The Intelligence 2-3 and REC Talk Temporary roles, policy-making and challenging perceptions

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Alex Small of Penman IT was recently named Microsoft Apprentice of the Year

TREC 2014

Talent, Recruitment and Employment Conference

How to help the Young Ones “Young people have the skills but they just don’t know how to communicate them,” said Susannah Clements, deputy CEO at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development at the 2014 Talent, Recruitment and Employment Conference, held at the Grand Connaught Rooms, this year (see more on pages 4-5).

The need to guide, train and help young people into work is a key issue for recruiters, employers and policymakers at the moment. In a new poll, out of 501 employers interviewed by ICM Research more than two-fifths believe it is their duty to help develop the next generation workforce.

Offering work experience to young people through the government’s new Traineeship programme is just

one way employers can satisfy their desire to help. Launched last year, Traineeships is a scheme that aims to unlock young people’s potential by providing them with the work experience, work preparation training, and maths and English skills needed for an apprenticeship or other job.

Traineeships unlock the great potential of young people aged 16 to 23 (16 to 24 from August 2014) and prepare them for their future careers by helping them to become ‘work ready’.

Hundreds of employers, including the BBC, BT, National Grid and Jaguar Land Rover have already committed to helping young people through the Traineeship programme. And of course, once they are on a Traineeship

they have a better chance at securing an apprenticeship.

For example, Penman IT’s Alex Small, pictured above, who was recently named Microsoft Apprentice of the Year at a prestigious awards ceremony in the House of Commons.

Rogers Restoration Ltd is a family run electrical business based in Somerset that has committed to taking on two trainees. Rogers’ MD Mike Rogers says: “Businesses have a responsibility, no matter what their size, to invest in young people. Providing opportunities for them to develop and improve their skills is essential, and that’s why we have committed to offering Traineeships.”

For more information about Traineeships, visit bit.ly/Traineeships2014

The legal 6 lowdown and Business Development Contract talk and simple software solutions

Institute of Recruitment 7 Professionals We speak to Louise Smith of SThree and Robert Fisher of Manning about their career successes

Best Events 8 The and Training The REC Audited Education one year on

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Leading the Industry

the intelligence Long-term vs short-term

30 20 10 %

Nina Mguni, senior researcher at the REC, asks are temporary roles becoming more permanent?

Fig 1: Turnover growth year-on-year

Full Employment’, found that while permanent job starts fell by 25% since 2006, temporary jobs fell by 10%. The proportion of temporary job starts is now at 30%, marginally short of the 33% it was in 1996-97.

The number of temporary billings has continued to grow when compared month-onmonth. The graph below draws on data from Report on Jobs.

Recruiters report continued month-on-month growth for a year of billings received from the employment of temporary and contract staff.

Interestingly, there has been a squeeze on the availability of temporary staff. This has coincided with a slight uptick in growth in number of recruiters reporting that average hourly pay rates for temporary/contract staff are higher compared to the previous month.

Higher wage rates may entice more people to work as temporary workers, but what is also apparent is that flexibility is also driving people’s job decisions. A report by Demos and PCG found that the proportion of freelancing mothers has grown by 24%.

If indeed a structural shift in temporary jobs is in play, the recruitment industry will clearly play a crucial role in tapping into the broader motivations of why people opt to work in this way.

65 60 55 %

50 45 40 35 30

■ Temporary staff billing ■ Temporary staff pay rates ■ Temporary staff availability Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May 13 14

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0 -10 -20

■ Upper quartile ■ Median ■ Lower quartile May Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar 12 13 14

Fig 2: Total employees versus last year 30 20 10 %

Temporary jobs form a substantial part of the labour market and have become an increasingly prominent feature of the labour market in recent years. Some commentators explain the role of temporary work as a response to the recession.

Clearly temporary work is a useful mechanism to allow cautious businesses to manage fluctuations in demand, and trial workers. But as the recession ebbs, could there be a more significant structural shift in which temporary work is not merely counter-cyclical?

In our last analysis of the recruitment industry we found that 90.7% of turnover in the industry is from temporary agency work.

This equals £24bn of turnover in the industry in the year. The Recruitment Industry Trends survey, an annual survey of the industry, found that this proportion was 84.2% in 2007/08.

The number of temporary workers still remains high. In February to April 2014, the number of temporary workers stood at 1.673m, marginally higher compared to last year when this figure stood at 1.594m. This figure does refer to forms of temporary work, including seasonal and agency work but it has remained steady despite an uptick in business confidence.

A report by the TUC, ‘Equitable

0 -10 -20

■ Upper quartile ■ Median ■ Lower quartile May Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar 12 13 14

Long-term recovery We are pleased to say that RIB members continue to report an improving market. Figure 1 above shows the trend line for ‘turnover growth’ compared to the previous year and how this has been steadily improving over the last two years. Most pleasing of all is that 2014 has seen this growth accelerate.

In March and April 2014, median growth was over 13% positive on the same period in 2013. This means that for every month of 2014 the median growth figure – compared to last year – has been in excess of 10%. What is also worth noting is that the upper quartile of RIB members are reporting growth in excess of 25% when compared to last year. So over a quarter of RIB members are reporting growth of over 25% on 2013.

This growth has now been reflected in the profit margin, with March and April 2014 both reporting an improved figure of around 4.5%.

This is a positive picture that would appear to point towards strong growth and therefore not surprisingly we have also seen an increase in staff numbers (see Figure 2). It is interesting to note the rapid increase in numbers in 2014, as previous spare capacity is used up and recruiters become more positive about the longer-term prospects of recovery.

Of course professional recruiters will want to also look at other key measurements such as fee earner productivity, margins and cost control etc. However, the signs are positive and show that it is crucial that management utilize all the tools and industry knowledge available to them to ensure they optimize their performance in this dynamic marketplace.

• Crawfurd Walker is CEO at Recruitment Industry Benchmarking (RIB) www.ribindex.com

www.rec.uk.com 08/07/2014 11:42

Leading the Industry

As policy-makers take recruitment increasingly seriously, let’s make sure they’re looking at the right things, says Tom Hadley, director of policy and professional services at the REC

The View

Recruitment and employment issues continue to rise up both the political and business agendas. And our priority is to ensure our industry’s voice remains at the forefront of all major labour market debates.

Jobs, pay, immigration, personal taxation, social mobility and inclusion are all hot topics. We engage positively with all the major parties on these and other issues, and put forward pragmatic solutions. Some are more challenging than others, in particular immigration, where our calls for policy to reflect labour market needs are likely to be buffeted by the howling populist gale of what remains a highly politicised debate.

Other areas we have increasingly been asked to comment on are youth and long-term unemployment. Our 2010 Youth Employment Taskforce made recommendations on promoting apprenticeships and creating incentives for business to hire young people. Progress has been made in these areas but one major weakness is the lack of an effective careers guidance network. Employer bodies in many sectors are playing a role and businesses (including a number of REC members) are getting involved in initiatives like STEM Ambassadors and Inspiring the Future. Employers and recruiters want to make a difference by working with local schools and colleges but a core message at the recent Westminster Employment Forum on ‘Preparing Young People For Work’ was that there needs to be a coordinated and effective guidance network.

A further priority is to ensure that manifesto murmurings reflect the changing nature of work. Sometimes the political and media debate can unfairly characterise freelance, contract or agency work as an option of last resort for people who would prefer to have a traditional permanent role, rather than a way of working that many people actively choose. The perception among some politicians is that individuals working as agency staff, contractors or interim management are either victims of some sort of mass-casualisation conspiracy or tax-dodgers. Challenging these perceptions and underlining the fact that personal choice is a major driver is the key aim of our forthcoming report on flexible workers.

We held a fantastic conference last month called the Talent Recruitment and Employment Conference (TREC) for the first time and we had as many HR, talent and in-house recruiters in the room as REC members.

Before the conference, both sides had told us that they thought this was a mistake as our differences would come to the fore and progress would be limited. Nothing could have been further from the truth. If we look at the talent and resourcing issues organisations are experiencing then we have a common interest in looking for solutions.

The recruitment industry has had a year of rapid growth and we believe we are now bigger than before the financial crisis and recession. So why do we still see in-house recruiters as a problem? Clients are becoming more sophisticated in their resourcing strategies, they have many of the same tools as us, be that job boards, social media or application tracking systems. The more thoughtful our clients are, the more likely that when they use agencies, it is where we can add the most value.

I was talking to a large IT and engineering recruiter recently, who said two years ago he and his colleagues were very fearful about the rise of the in-house recruiter. He admitted that they had lost a lot of easy-to-do assignments to in-house teams but said they got as many more senior and difficult roles to fill. They were more acknowledged by the client for their expertise and were making more money because the client could see the value.

The impending talent crisis calls for clients and recruiters to work together to innovate and develop solutions. It’s in all our interests that our businesses have the talent they need to succeed because this creates growth and demand for more people.

So let’s stop being defensive, stop looking for differences and work together as partners.

• You can follow Tom on Twitter @hadleyscomment

• You can follow Kevin on Twitter @kevingreenrec

Challenging perceptions

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The Big Talking Point

Hiring for growth The TREC conference was full of inspiring insights into the skills and talent gaps, and how to fill them as the jobs market kicks up a notch

Panel 3, with Neil Morrison chairing

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Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” That’s one of Richard Branson’s snippets of recruitment wisdom and it was just one of many pieces of advice raised at last month’s Talent, Recruitment & Employment Conference (TREC 2014), where over 100 people in recruitment and HR came together to discuss the differences between talent and skills, the shortages in certain industries and the possible solutions from the UK’s best and brightest.

Kevin Green opened the conference, which took place at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London’s Covent Garden on 24 June, citing sources as diverse as Bruce Springsteen lyrics and his admiration for film director Martin Scorsese’s tough but impressive management style as inspiration for “hiring for growth”, the conference mantra, as well as for effective retention. “We were so pleased to see talent, HR, in-house recruiters and agencies

Young people have the skills but they just don’t know how to communicate them Susannah Clements, deputy CEO, CIPD

Katie Jacobs, deputy editor, HR Magazine at TREC

all in the same room talking about the best candidates and how to find and keep them. It was a great day,” said Green.

For more information on the event go to http://www.rec.uk.com/businesssupport/events/trec-2014 www.rec. uk.com/trec

We would just like to extend our thanks to @RECPress & @kevingreenrec for yesterday’s #TREC2014 great event with some great info!

Brookson Accountancy

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Call good leavers 3-6 months after to see how green is the grass you left for? Good source of rehires.

Flip it on its head Jennifer Candee, head of global talent acquisition, SAB Miller

Who was there?

Live audience response session Led by: Kevin Green, CEO, REC, talking to Jennifer Candee, head of global talent acquisition, SAB Miller and Robert Zajko, director of talent acquisition EMEA, Hilton Worldwide Panel 1: Sourcing new talent: trends, developments and skillsets Chair: Katie Jacobs, deputy editor, HR Magazine Panelists: Susannah Clements, deputy CEO, CIPD; Colin Minto, group head resourcing and HR systems, G4S; Kean August, VP global executive recruiting, SAP

Kevin Green at TREC

Round Tables on subjects including ‘The Changing face of Sourcing Channels’ and ‘Identifying, Sourcing and Developing a Broad Range of Talent’ Led by Tom Sayer, talent acquisition lead at Accenture; Kean August, VP global executive recruitment at SAP; Gary Franklin, founder and director at The FIRM; Jason Silk, talent acquisition director at Randstad; Martin Hesketh, managing director at Brookson; Caroline Roberts, HR director (VP) Europe at Fox International Channels; Neil Morrison, group HR director at Penguin Random House; Colin Minto, group head resourcing and HR systems at G4S; and Angela Goldsmith, head of European resourcing at Diageo Keynote address from Dean Royles, chief executive at NHS Employers

Susannah Clements, deputy CEO, CIPD and Colin Minto, group head resourcing and HR systems, G4S at TREC

Technology is just an enabler of your recruitment & engagement processes. Not the solution itself Kean August, VP global executive recruiting, SAP

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Panel 2: Development and Retention: managing the evolution of talent Chair: David Head, Recruitment International Panelists: Charlie Keeling, global HR director at Clyde & Co; Tom Baker, former director group resourcing and talent acquisition at Barclays; Miles Stribbling, director of strategic partnerships at Phaidon International Panel 3: Creating a Top Class Career Path Chair: Neil Morrison, group HR director, Penguin Random House Panelists: Paul Maxin, head of talent & resourcing at FCA; Chris Moore, COO at Adecco; James Atkins, head of recruitment and learning EMEA at Caterpillar

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Legal Update

Contract talk How do you ensure that terms have been properly provided and accepted, asks the REC’s Chris Cuckney

Getty

Under the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, employment businesses have an obligation to agree terms with their clients before they introduce or supply temporary workers to the client.

Similarly, although not a legal requirement, employment agencies are strongly advised as a matter of best practice to have their terms of business agreed with their clients before introducing permanent candidates to clients. However, the fast-paced nature of the recruitment industry does not always allow time to have your terms and conditions formally signed by your clients. REC Legal regularly receives queries from members trying to enforce terms (in particular fee clauses) where they have difficulty demonstrating acceptance of terms. REC members also often ask whether they can digitally sign documents to create a legally binding contract with their clients (this is more commonly known as using electronic signatures).

In England and Wales a contract is formed when there is clear acceptance of the terms and conditions. ● A signature is the best way to demonstrate acceptance of terms. This can be a hard copy or a scanned copy of the signed document.

Chris Cuckney, REC legal advisor

● Terms can also be accepted by email (ideally the email would confirm the date terms were sent) or, for example where you are ordering online, you can simply have a tick box to indicate your acceptance of the terms. ● Terms can also be accepted verbally.

However, in the event of a dispute it could be harder to prove that the terms were actually accepted. Where the terms have been discussed verbally, it might be difficult to establish what terms were agreed between the parties. ● Finally, acceptance can also be implied where one party has read the other party’s terms and conditions, and instructs them to go ahead and provide the service/goods that have been offered.

In law certain contracts must be agreed in writing and must be signed traditionally (ie. they must be signed by hand); for example, a will must be signed in writing and cannot be done by electronic signature. However,

for most commercial contracts, including a contract for the provision of recruitment services, electronic signatures can be used as another method of acceptance, provided that the technology has been used by the parties with the intention of creating legal relations.

The Electronic Communications Act 2000 and the Electronic Signatures Regulations 2002, which implement the European Directive on a Community framework for electronic signatures, ensures that electronic signatures can be used in court. All of the normal provisions that are required for a legally binding contract continue to apply (offer, acceptance, consideration and an intention to create legal relations).

Ultimately electronic signatures can be used to agree contracts with clients.

Where you are using electronic signatures you should agree with your client that this method of acceptance will be used and use software that also incorporates technology to authenticate the signatory.

Further information on the use of electronic signatures can be found in the guidance produced by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, which is available on their website. Alternatively REC corporate members can contact the REC Legal Team on 020 7009 2199.

Business development: The fundamentals When you’re looking for front and back office recruitment software, you want to know first and foremost that the one you choose can get the job done quickly, efficiently and for a reasonable price. This, says Adrian Kruger, director of the REC’s new business partner, is precisely what Intersoftware does.

The company’s ‘enterprise’ software is modular, designed for any size of agency, temp or perm, and can be used with other recruitment and accounting systems. The software also has a variety of compliance modules including travel and subsistence schemes, pensions auto-enrolment, AWR and RTI. “We do the fundamentals. There are systems out there that bounce things off satellite systems and do all sorts of flashy things

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with social media. We don’t really do that; not because we can’t but because there are some really basic things that just need doing – efficient pension auto-enrolment, for instance – and those things need doing for everything else in recruitment to run smoothly,” says Kruger.

REC members will now be eligible for a 10% discount on new software licences. “We are especially involved with helping a wide variety of agencies with technology and legislative issues, and are joining forces with the REC in a series of workshops over the coming months on compliance issues – in particular, pensions auto-enrolment,” adds Kruger. “This is very pertinent to SMEs and temp-orientated agencies at the moment.”

For more information contact Intersoftware on 0161 969 4433

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Inspiration

Behind the scenes at the Institute of Recruitment Professionals

Recruiting for recruiters This month we speak to Louise Smith of specialist recruitment company SThree, who won In-House Recruiter of the Year at the 2013 IRP Awards

How did it feel to win the award?

2012 and 2013 were definitely my peak years in terms of results for me at SThree. I’m now moving into more of a management role, so it is lovely to have been recognised and have such a defining memory of the more hands-on times. We have some of the best people in the industry at SThree and it’s a great place to work. So it’s important for me to challenge myself to work at that the highest level, and it’s been great to get the recognition internally from my colleagues.

What was it that got the judges’ attention do you think?

My performance meant I was the top talent acquisition consultant globally in 2012, which hopefully helped! I’ve also been interested in getting involved with other projects, such as redesigning our assessment day, introducing new interview formats and SLAs to streamline processes and increase retention. I also became involved with Identity, a programme launched in 2011 to increase representation of women in senior positions at SThree.

Where did you start and how long have you been in your current job?

After gaining a year’s B2B sales experience I started with SThree in 2007 on the centralised Internal Recruitment team in Manchester. I spent two years there recruiting for our France, Benelux and Dach regions before relocating to London out of personal choice. I was approached by SThree two years later in 2011 to return to the UK Talent Acquisition team and in a further two years reached principal consultant level.

What do you enjoy about recruitment?

The rapport I build with candidates, money, incentive holidays, lunch clubs, the fun environment... as well as doing a good job for my internal clients who are also colleagues, some of whom are good friends. Also coaching team members to maximise their potential. Lots of things!

What would you do if you weren’t in recruitment, do you think?

I’ll say something maybe to do with wine tasting or oenology [study of wine and winemaking] – that could be fun!

Things I Know This month Robert Fisher, recruitment manager at Manning, gives us his thoughts and tips on success in recruitment Don’t take yourself too seriously Look, some requests you’ll fill some you won’t.

Some clients you’ll get on with, some you won’t.

When you start in recruitment no two days are the same. You’re dealing with people not products, and so you’ve got to roll with the punches. You need quite a thick skin.

Treat people equally Having said that, you’ve got to go the extra mile.

Treat the candidates as you would want to be treated yourself and treat each client as if they’re your only client. I always have done, and it’s served me well.

Don’t feel you need to move I’ve been at Manning for 23 years, ever since I’ve been in recruitment. I used to be a documentation controller in the energy industry and Manning was one of the agencies I worked through. Then one day the old director at Manning encouraged me to move across – I only meant to do it for six months but really enjoyed it. I’ve been offered other jobs, but I’ve stayed because I always felt I could progress here and help make the business the best that it can be.

You have to change or die Manning has changed a lot. We were once heavily involved in the offshore construction industry but there’s not much of that now. When the recession happened there wasn’t so much recruitment, so we adapted and did outplacements for the job centre. We didn’t just pursue things that we’d always done; we thought, things are hard, ok, what other skills do we have?

To keep up to date with everything the Institute of Recruitment Professionals is doing, please visit www.rec-irp.uk.com

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Events and training

Education, education, education It’s the REC Audited Education product’s first birthday. Here’s how it’s been doing…

It’s been one year since the REC responded to market demand and launched the REC Audited Education product. In that time we have been delighted with the response from REC recruiters and the education sector. Over 40 agencies are working towards, or have achieved, REC Audited Education status and there are another 30 in the pipeline.

At the current rate of interest, we are on course to have just as many members signed up to REC Audited Education as were part of the Quality Mark in its whole ten year history.

REC Audited Education, as you would expect, ensures safeguarding and that agencies are undertaking all the relevant checks when recruiting teachers. REC Audited Education enables schools and education providers to be confident that they are using an accredited supplier, who puts standards at the centre of their business.

The audit goes way beyond just compliance, requiring agencies to demonstrate that they operate best practice in areas such as customer service, staff development, diversity and client management. The package includes a feedback report specific to your business and complementary documents from the REC Business Toolkit.

The process starts with an online diagnostic and is followed by an on-site audit by one of our experts, who will not just check your documentation, but will talk to you and your staff about your processes and systems, providing practical support to ensure you are a best practice recruiter.

REC head of compliance, Angie Nicholls, said: “When the Department for Education withdrew support for the Quality Mark, we knew that we had to

respond quickly, building on all that we had learnt from delivering the Quality Mark over the last decade.

“We have put that experience to really good use by creating something that is even more robust than the governmentinitiated offer and recruiters tell us that this is what has given schools confidence in the product, which is the most important thing.”

Member feedback has been equally positive. Director of PK Education, Karl Housley FIRP (pictured above, far left), said: “Yes the new standards in REC Audited Education are tough and certainly put us through our paces but it was asking for nothing more than I would expect from a high quality agency. The fact that the REC team was with us for a whole day meant that we had plenty of opportunities to ask questions and really hone in on what we could do to improve our levels of service.”

A really important part of the development of REC Audited Education

Recruitment Matters The official magazine of The Recruitment & Employment Confederation Dorset House, 1st Floor, 27-45 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NT Tel: 020 7009 2100 www.rec.uk.com

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has been the ongoing support, advice and guidance of the steering group. The group is chaired by Prof John Howson of the University of Oxford and steering group members include the Department for Education (DfE), the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), Voice the Union and The Schools Network (SSAT). The steering group has helped the REC keep fully abreast of developments on the frontline of the education system and in turn, it can share these insights with members.

The regular REC Education sector group meetings continue to be the best channel for members to hear the latest advice from the steering group.

Given the changes to the guidance on safeguarding in schools, DBS checks and at Ofsted, it has never been more important to keep up with developments in the sector.

The next Education sector group meeting is on 23 September.

For more information visit www.rec.uk.com/auditededucation

Membership Department: Membership: 020 7009 2100, Customer Services: 020 7009 2100 Publishers: Redactive Publishing Ltd, 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP. Tel: 020 7880 6200. www.redactive.co.uk Publisher: Aaron Nicholls aaron.nicholls@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 8547 Consulting Editor: Ed Sexton ed.sexton@rec.uk.com Editorial: Editor: Francesca Steele francesca.steele@redactive.co.uk. Production Editor: Vanessa Townsend Production: Deputy Production Manager: Kieran Tobin. kieran.tobin@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6240 Printing: Printed by Woodford Litho © 2014 Recruitment Matters. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, neither REC, Redactive Publishing Ltd nor the authors can accept liability for errors or omissions. Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the REC or Redactive Publishing Ltd. No responsibility can be accepted for unsolicited manuscripts or transparencies. No reproduction in whole or part without written permission.

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