The Agency Workers Regulations (AWR)

Do you use agency workers? 

By Mark Begley, Associate Director, Head of Creative & Digital for Creative and Design jobs and Digital jobs

AWR has a significant impact upon how you manage your contract and temporary talent, with agency workers entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions as staff you recruit directly. Some “day one rights” kick in immediately while the full rights come into effect after 12 weeks. Randstad research has indicated that many of our clients are unsure about AWR - are you now?

What are the Agency Workers Regulations?
The Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) first surfaced back in 2008, as a result of an EU Directive, and will be implemented in the UK on 1 October.

The purpose of the Regulations is to give greater protection to agency workers by ensuring that they benefit from the same basic working and employment conditions as if they had been employed directly by the hirer. The core concept is to ensure equal treatment and parity of pay.
 
Essentially after a 12-week qualifying period agency workers will be entitled to the same pay, overtime, holidays, and specific bonuses as an employee doing the same or equivalent role. This does not extend to benefits and loyalty rewards.

In the vast majority of cases in our sector pay will already equal or exceed that of a comparative in-house role so holiday will be the most common area of adjustment.

What we're doing to help you...
As part of the Randstad group, Major Players has contributed to the government's process of writing the accompanying Guidelines for the Regulations.

We have also developed guides to help you fully understand the impact of this legislation and adequately prepare...

Shifting Sands report
Offering you a detailed insight into the AWR and the impact it will have upon both employers and agency workers, along with an analysis of current market trends and changes in the workplace. (click here to request a copy)
  
Impact assessment guide
A guide to conducting an impact assessment helping to highlight how AWR might affect your organisation (click here)

Client and candidate FAQ guides
Get answers to the burning questions be clicking on the links to the left

Parity inclusions & exclusions   
Make sure you're fully informed of parity entitlements with our simple guide (click here)

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