The growing importance of temporary labour in meeting the need for a dynamic workforce is well known. The flexibility of utilizing temporary labour suits both employer and worker, and provides the opportunity to achieve a precision fit between the task at hand and the skills and capacity brought to bear on it.
Agency billings for temporary assignments increased for the 28th consecutive month in November. Similarly, the UK Government reports that people engaged in full time temporary employment has increased for the 6th consecutive quarter [i]. Temporary labour clearly meets a growing need and I expect that the massive effort to gear up for the Olympics will break new records in temporary labour placements. Even as temporary labour becomes more central to the staffing strategy of large enterprises, new factors are being introduced that complicate cost management and administration. The recently introduced UK Office IQNdex tracks the median rate charged to clients by temporary staffing agencies for frequently filled IT, financial and administrative roles. In 2011, that index has risen 9.6% to the end of November. Compare this to its US counterpart, which is up only 2.5% over the same period. The faster increase in the UK is largely due to non-market factors: inflation, VAT increase, and higher National Insurance contributions. With so many moving parts, it is hard for managers to understand the dynamics of the underlying labour market. The UK Office IQNdex, based on thousands of recent temporary assignments instead of surveys or job postings, gives managers more direct insight into market realities.
Effective October 1, 2011, the Agency Workers Regulations 2010[ii] are only now being felt in earnest. The twelve week window after which the full scope of the regulations’ requirements become active has just elapsed. While there has been a lot of speculation about the impact, from dire to benign, only experience will really provide the answer. The release of the UK Office IQNdex is timely – it will provide early insight on the impact of these new administrative requirements on agency charge rates. To stay current with developments using the UK Office IQNdex, subscribe through our website: http://iqntelligence.com/uk-iqndex/uk-iqndex-white-paper/
[i] (Office for National Statistics, 2011)
[ii] (The National Archives, 2011)
