AWR: Questions and answers uncovered
A PDF resource that can be saved and printed answering a lot of the questions that managers and business owners are currently asking about AWR.
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Summary of questions:
1. Assignment lengths
1.1 What are the current average lengths of assignments?
1.2 What proportion of assignments last more than 12 weeks?
1.3 If assignments are relatively short, are they either regularly extended or regularly repeated?
1.4 Is there an average break period between assignments? If yes, what is it?
1.5 Are breaks between assignments of varying lengths and ad hoc?
1.6 Where there are breaks in assignment, does the agency worker usually go back into the same role at the client or are there a variety of roles which one agency worker can undertake?
2. Employment status of temporary workers supplied to the client?
2.1 What is the status of the temporary workers you currently supply or propose to supply to the client?
2.2 Are they genuinely self-employed? Are they engaged via limited companies whether their own limited companies or umbrella companies?
2.3 Does the client use more than one agency to engage temporary workers?
2.4 Are there intermediaries in the supply chain including master or neutral vendors? If not now, does the client propose introducing a master or neutral vendor arrangement in the future?
2.5 Does the client use a managed service arrangement for some or all of its workforce?
3. Pay and benefits
3.1 What are the current rates of pay paid to agency workers? (You will need to break this down into categories of worker based on type of work, skills or seniority where relevant)
3.2 How does this currently compare with equivalent direct recruits? Does the client operate formal pay bands?
3.3 What are the current overtime rates being offered to direct recruits? How do these rates differ from the overtime rates currently offered to temporary workers?
3.4 What bonus payments and commissions are currently offered to direct recruiters and may need to be applied to temporary staff?
4 Holiday entitlements
4.1 What holidays are the client’s directly engaged workers entitled to?
5 Collective facilities and permanent employment opportunities
5.1 What collective facilities are currently open to the client’s own directly
5 Collective facilities and permanent employment opportunities
5.1 What collective facilities are currently open to the client’s own directly engaged workforce?
5.2 Which, if any, of these collective facilities are currently available to temporary workers?
5.3 How does the client advertise internal vacancies? Are there notice-boards or intranet sites that all workers at its site(s) have access to?
6. Maternity rights for agency workers
6.1 What proportion of the client’s workforce is female?
6.2 What sort of roles does the client have? If a pregnant agency worker’s assignment is terminated, will the agency be able to source suitable alternative work at that client or will they have to find suitable alternative work elsewhere?
6.3 Are there any health and safety issues at the client’s site(s) which may pose particular concern to pregnant agency workers and which may mean that their assignments must be terminated?
7 Limiting the risk of tribunal claims
7.1 What current mechanisms are in place to deal with complaints from agency workers?
7.2 Has the client recognised one or more unions? How does the client engage with the union(s)? What is the state of relations with the union(s)?