UK Recruiters lead the way in social media use

More jobs are posted on LinkedIn and Facebook by British recruiters than but those in the US, Australia or Canada.

A study by Bullhorn, questioned over 65,000 people to find out social media is used as a recruitment tool across the world. The, somewhat surprising, results found that 87% of recruiters in the UK post jobs to LinkedIn, 23% to Facebook and 53% to Twitter.

Peter Linas, EMEA managing director of Bullhorn said: “This report suggests UK recruiters are ahead of the curve when it comes to using Twitter and LinkedIn but suggests they could be doing more with Facebook.”

Interestingly the smaller and larger firms used social media less than those in mid sized agencies. The biggest discrepancy across the three networks was seen in LinkedIn; 98% of recruiters at mid-sized agencies made use of the network, compared to just 81% at large firms and 91% at small firms.

Other notable findings included:

• U.S. recruiters are the most active on Facebook, but less active on Twitter compared to recruiters in the U.K. and Australia. They are still above the international average of 28%.
• U.K. recruiters use Twitter the most with 53% posting jobs to the network, while recruiters in the U.S. and Canada use it the least.
• Recruiters at small companies worldwide use LinkedIn the least with 87% posting jobs to the network.
• Recruiters at small companies worldwide are the most active on Facebook and Twitter with 30% posting jobs to Facebook and 49% of recruiters posting jobs to Twitter.

Contingent workforces – time for a re-brand? Part one

It has long since been the case that a temporary agency workforce was a stop gap, not intended as a long-term solution to hiring issues, but to simply ‘tide over’ until a permanent equivalent could be found. So then, why has the use of temporary agency workers been consistently increasing throughout the recession, despite the wide availability of permanent staff?

What the recession has taught hiring managers is that contingent workers aren’t necessarily the second option; in fact, in time of economic uncertainty they are often the uncontended first choice.

Temporary workers have seen less employment issues than their permanent counterparts over the last few years. This is due, in part, to businesses being unwilling to risk taking on a permanent workforce, meaning many people made redundant over the last four years have chosen to opt for the flexibility temporary worker offers. In turn this has meant the candidate pool for temps has grown, making them more appealing to employers. It is now quite likely that your ideal candidate will be someone wanting a contract role and, despite the future uncertainty that may bring, their ‘job readiness’ makes them an attractive option.

Many temporary positions now last well beyond a few months, in fact one temp has just celebrated 25 years working with one of the nations largest supermarket, so even though the worker is being employed on a contract basis, hiring managers should look beyond this. Simply by providing the best environment, training and rewards for the right workers, regardless of their contractual status, workers are much more likely to be willing to extend their contract or move to a permanent role should that offer be presented.

In part two we’ll discuss whether hiring managers should change their recruitment marketing strategy to reflect the market changes.

Temporary work bucking national employment trends.

The use of temporary agency labour has increased again in most sectors, in antithesis to the latest government figures regarding temporary employment.

The manufacturing sector has seen it’s second increase in the use of temps this year, suggesting the industry could be returning to growth in the first quarter of 2012. Date from de Poel shows that the number of hours worked by temporary staff has increased year-on-year by 35% in January and 48% in February as the manufacturing sector has increased its labour needs to support improved levels of output. Reports out by the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed levels of activity in manufacturing were at its highest for eight months in January 2012 thanks to a rise in new orders and an increase in production.

The data also showed usage of temporary labour rose by 79% within the Business Services sector, 30% within Care and 4% in Construction. Facilities Management and Logistics sectors reduced their use of temporary labour during February 2012 by 33% and 27% respectively.

In complete contrast the Office of National Statistics figures release today (14/03) show unemployment at a near 17-year high, with 2.67 million people now out of work.  Despite the increase, many commentators have suggested the figures aren’t too bad:

In an interview with the Financial Times,Howard Archer, an economist at HIS Global Insight, said the data were “mixed overall but the rise in unemployment does appear to have moderated recently which supports hopes that the economy is returning to modest growth”.

For a complete overview of the latest employment statistics for both the permanent and temporary arenas take a look at our Employment Snapshot.

Implementation of standard pay rate matrix

Recruitment of temporary agency workers has quickly become a popular practice among businesses as they prepare for an economic upturn. Supplementing or up-skilling a company’s workforce, temporary agency workers allow businesses to respond quickly to market and seasonal shifts for competitive advantage. But as use of temporary agency labour increases, so too, do opportunities for agency over-charging in what has become the UK’s largest unregulated industry. Recruitment of temporary agency labour has since emerged as an area with massive saving potential as UK businesses embark on projects to streamline and cut costs.  HR and procurement professionals alike turn their attention to agency charge rates.  In order to address and indeed achieve savings, a standardise pay and agency matrix is vital in operating with a controlled efficient temporary agency workforce.

Given the number of aspects to an agency charge rate (pay, margin, pay deductions, etc.) as a term, implementation of standard rate matrix refers to the regulation of three main aspects of agency charge rates: Pay rates, job-specific margins and rate calculations. You can only standardise these rates and calculations once you have worked out the optimums.

To standardise the rates, and so obtain the trust of quality, supplying agencies, you will need authority within the recruitment industry. Having authority is a result of having a wealth of industry knowledge. And yet, it can still be a struggle to ‘win agencies over’, especially if they are national companies with a strong position in the market.

You will need a strong team of implementation experts who can visit agencies, hold seminars and conduct presentations, to let them know the full details of the new arrangement, how it will affect them, how you plan to monitor the rates as well as the benefits of them coming on board. You will need to make it clear to the agencies that you will have overall control of the rates, but, that you will ensure they are as fair and balanced as possible.

Introducing a preferred agency panel

The introduction of a preferred agency supplier list, or a ‘panel’ is key to maintaining control over your temporary agency spend.   Once this is in place you can standardise pay and agency margins.

A panel is effectively a list of agencies who supply you exclusively. One reason this is significant in the standardisation process is because you cannot expect a supplying agency to accept reduced, set pay rates and margins unless there is a benefit to them – a panel of supplying agencies is that benefit.

Rather than agencies having to compete with a large number of different suppliers with no guarantee that they will be used at any specific time, a panel reduces competition between agencies and gives key suppliers piece of mind that they are to be used when they have specific expertise or geographical monopoly.

The other reason a panel of suppliers is important for standardisation is because it is an efficient way of ensuring that rates and rules are adhered to. Not only would you, the client, have more control over a smaller list of suppliers, but the size of list itself would generate more positive dealings between the agency and your organization, making for a more genuine and efficient relationship.

Traditionally, companies have established preferred suppliers lists with no operational input or have used a master vendor solution to channel all agency placements, though neither approach allows adequately for operational requirements. On this basis, it is best to have all agencies on a level playing field, and to consult your procurement, HR and operational departments for their ideas. The fact that agencies will be competing on service rather than price (following rate set up) means that the supply of workers is also likely to be improved by introducing a panel, creating further cost-savings for your business.

When setting up your panel – avoid radically changing you supply base. Agencies who have worked with you for a long time are not only more likely to accept standard rates and take an interest in the new supply arrangement, they also know your business better and will be able to supply you accordingly, saving you money. Instead, try to help them to do what they are currently doing more cost effectively through your powers of negotiation and new industry expertise. That said, if you really believe that they are under-performing, waste no further time and offer new suppliers a chance.

The value of indirect cost savings

Whilst de Poel reduces direct costs by 6-12%, the service also contributes hugely to indirect recruitment cost savings.

de Poel slashes indirect cost savings by diminishing the administration and invoicing time of using agency workers. For example, in the case of our care client St Annes, we introduced the successful implementation of e-tips® and cut invoices down from 5,000 per year to 52, with vast savings of £175,000.

We also provide the clear visibility of temporary labour spend, so that your organisation is not wasting valuable resources searching through invoice errors or agency spend, a factor that’s instantly visible on e-tips®.

On top of this, with the Agency Workers Regulations now in operation, we have made it easier to Manage the Agency Workers Regulations through e-tips®. We take the hassle out of managing the regulations, so that you have immediate control over the problem.

In summary, de Poel’s neutral vendor solution provides excellent indirect cost savings, through the reduction of administering large quantities of invoices, providing your company with visibility and taking the agitation out of legislation, so your organisation’s resources can be used on other valuable projects.