Christmas has started even earlier this year with latest findings from employment law firm, Peninsula showing that 83% of retailers polled admitted to having started recruitment campaigns to cover the festive period.

This is up from 69% of employers who said they were recruiting at the same point in time, last year.

In worrying news, however, 82% of respondents said they don’t check temporary workers references. While 63% confessed that their HR departments weren’t prepared with the legal guidelines for the intake of temps and just under half, 47% said they would not be willing to retain temporary workers after the Christmas rush had died down.

Peter Done, managing director of Peninsula commented:

“With the findings indicating that over 9 in 10 employers are already recruiting, employers need to be aware that although they will be mainly recruiting temporary workers in this period, it does not mean that as an employer your liability is limited. The temporary workers rights are the same as a member of staff who has worked full time and for any specific length of time.”

Referring to the issue of references he warned: “In the case of recruitment, it is always important to ask for specific references, as every employer will understand that in the Christmas period, a business cannot afford to be let down during the busiest time of the year by unreliable or inexperienced staff. The use of references is an employer’s only source of information of candidates pasts.”

The survey polled 326 employers across the UK in a range of retail industries.