The dearth of talent across the UK is well-documented, but yet to be adequately alleviated. As almost every hiring team across the country has experienced, the lifting of Covid-related restrictions created a demand for new staff that few of us have experienced to such a degree before.
This pressure on the labour market and draining of talent pools will only worsen for the foreseeable future. For the public sector, events such as the rail strikes and potential action from teachers and healthcare professionals will only place further pressure on resources.
The Government has recognised the need to reinforce the labour market to some degree – though the absence of the Employment Bill in the Queen’s Speech does suggest that the skills agenda is slipping down the list of priorities. While I agree that there are changes required across the employment legislation remit in the UK, not all steps will be appropriate – including the planned changes to agency worker regulations.
Amending legislation
As the country prepared for the disruption of the rail strikes in June, plans were announced to amend legislation in order to allow agency workers to fill in for staff on the picket line. Historically, under the agency worker regulation, businesses are prohibited from using agency staff to replace workers on strike. However, the Government confirmed on 23rd June that it will be removing this restriction in order to reduce the impact of such action on the general public.
Following the initial announcement there were calls from across employment sector experts for a full consultation on this issue, with many recruitment leaders warning that this amendment should not take place without following the appropriate routes. Indeed, our own Global Public Policy Director, Tania Bowers was highly vocal on this issue:
“We would not expect the Government to go ahead with this plan for a change in the agency worker legislation without consultation with the recruitment sector including ourselves. This legislative move would be out of line with most developed nations and in breach of international labour standards. It’s also not a short-term solution as it requires primary legislation change.”
“This government was elected on a manifesto of improving worker rights via implementation of the recommendations of 2017’s Taylor Review, currently being considered by the Prime Minister’s Future of Work review. We are therefore surprised by the unexpected move to amend the agency legislation, which will only restrict the impact of workers exercising their rights to strike.”
Limited results
Control and management of the labour market is changing and will need to in the flexible world of work, but as Tania alluded to in her comments, the impact that agency worker regulation changes will have on strike-related talent shortages will likely be limited. In the first instance, many of the skilled workers that could potentially step in are themselves unlikely to want to fill in for their peers on the picket line. Staffing firms are also unlikely to want to put their agency workers in this difficult position. Indeed, many of our members have stated that they would not want to put agency staff forward to replace striking employees as it goes against the ethos of their firm and their relationship with the highly skilled candidates they work with.
We also can’t ignore the fact that those with the skills to fill in for striking staff are unlikely to be readily available to step in themselves. Most of the roles that require stand-in staff are highly-skilled, meaning agency workers may require upskilling, onboarding and compliance checks before they can step in to fill resourcing gaps. This means that there would certainly be a time lag before workers would be ready to fill resourcing needs. In a highly skills short market, trained and qualified workers, such as train drivers, teachers and nurses, are also unlikely to be out of work and readily available.
Protecting our labour
The shortage of talent across most sectors isn’t an issue that will be resolved overnight, but amending employment legislation without proper consultation with those with the experience and knowledge of talent attraction difficulties isn’t advisable. Recruitment, hiring and HR experts are the ones who will be better placed to inform what action will deliver meaningful results.
APSCo has already consulted with Matt Warman, MP, who is leading the Government’s Future of Work review and will continue to ensure the voice of recruiters and talent attraction specialists is fed into any plans to amend employment legislation and any action to help close the skills gaps across the country.
We have brought the concerns of our members to the Government and have emphasised that we are willing to meet with Government ministers and departments to ensure we are all pushing in the same direction for one end goal. For HR and talent management professionals, now is the time play an active part not only in ensuring your own firm is effectively and ethically engaging with potential new talent (including agency workers), but that those suppliers you are using to source new staff are also aligned with the employment compliance views of the company.
If staffing partners are stating that they will not be using agency workers to replace striking staff despite the Government amendment of the legislation, it is most likely that they are doing so as a result of the information they are getting from their own candidate base. Handling disgruntled staff is never easy, but recruiters often have the insider knowledge from candidate communities to know what approaches will be beneficial and what may exacerbate the situation. Agency workers that learn a firm is looking to replace striking employees with temp staff may be dissuaded from working for the business in the future.
Clearly we will be facing an extended period of uncertainty in the talent acquisition field, but this is where better partnerships and greater collaboration between all stakeholders involved in the movement of professionals is needed. I truly believe that more can be done to unify staffing firms and employers to ensure we are all working towards the same end goal: a strong, globally mobile talent pool that supports strategic business growth.
