1. News
  2. New to Market

New to Market

4 June 2024
Social care, Industrial/Manufacturing

Association of Labour Providers launches Manifesto for a Fair Labour Market

Representing the interests of labour providers and the businesses that use them, the ALP said: “We are committed to fostering a fair and inclusive labour market that benefits both workers and businesses alike… while promoting economic growth and prosperity.”

The 10 points are:

  1. Streamline key legislation. Suggested is an annual Employment Bill to deal with employment rights, minimum wage, holiday entitlement, working time and sickness absence. Also recommended is the introduction of legislation providing for “the presumption of an employment relationship for gig workers when the platform controls and directs the worker”. It goes on to suggest that the burden of proof should lie with the gig platform to prove that there is no employment relationship if they are genuinely engaging workers on a self-employed basis.
  2. Introduce evidence-based immigration policies. Introduce a ‘fit for purpose’, evidence-based immigration to work system, meeting the needs of UK employers whilst not disadvantaging the resident workforce. Measures could include redefining the role of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), similar to that provided by the Independent Low Pay Commission, and producing an annual evidence-based report on occupations where there are not enough resident workers to fulfil industry requirements and conducting a detailed inquiry into the size and nature of the estimated 1.2m undocumented workers in the UK, alongside a number of other key factors.
  3. Promote effective consultation and collaboration. Work with appropriate business representatives to ensure regulation and guidance are practical, comprehensive and up to date.
  4. Tackle labour exploitation. Suggested measures include undertaking a radical overhaul of vetting, monitoring and enforcement of businesses holding a sponsor licence on all immigration routes.
  5. Enforce work rights. Recommended steps include introduce a properly governed and resourced Single Enforcement Body tasked with remedying failures in current labour market regulation and ensuring robust enforcement mechanisms for the future, extend licensing of recruiters to the health and care worker visa worker recruitment supply chain and require the director of labour market enforcement to report on other sectors such as car washing, waste processing and garment manufacture where intervention such as licensing or a Supply Code of Practice is required to address egregious exploitation. 
  6. Provide access to justice. Suggested measures include rebranding Acas with “a name that is clear to all” such as ‘The Work Rights Helpline’ and make it be the single source of all employment information on GOV.UK and more detailed guidance to industry.
  7. Ensure a flexible labour market. Recommendations include mutually beneficial flexible working arrangements that accommodate diverse lifestyles and employment preferences and conduct a structural review of the legal right to ‘chain-leasing’, the ability for umbrella companies and other intermediaries to interpose themselves contractually or otherwise between the employment business and the worker.
  8. Enhance access to work. This point covers a variety of concerns such as future labour market policy, an overhaul of national skills policy, reform of the Apprenticeship Levy, social policy initiatives, redesigning accommodation rules, conducting a national ‘transport to work’ review and more.
  9. Make work pay. Addressing unemployment, underemployment and economic inactivity, including the implementation of a work tax and National Insurance strategy, which does not financially disincentivise businesses from providing full-time work.
  10. Ensure fair payment throughout supply chains. Recommended measures include adopting the Prompt Payment Code into law with a mandatory 30-day maximum payment period with late payment interest and potential charges. 

The ALP is a not-for-profit trade association.

• Comment below on this story. Or let us know what you think by emailing us at [email protected] or tweet us to tell us your thoughts or share this story with a friend.

4 June 2024
Executive search

The FIRM relaunches as The Talent Labs, expands services

A statement from the UK-based, practitioner-led organisation said the move is designed to better align with the systemic ongoing transformation in the talent industry.

Structural change within the organisation is intended to “better bridge the gaps between talent acquisition, management and development”, the statement said. It reflects the need to help organisations meet the challenges of significant skills gaps, advancing technology, increasing competition, DEI considerations, shifting candidate expectations and demographic changes, all set against a backdrop of economic uncertainty.

The Talent Labs begins this next phase of its organisational journey with a global membership of 4,500, including employers such as EY, Nestlé, Balfour Beatty and TUI Group.

The growing organisation has expanded its services to meet specific needs that unlock the ability to recruit and retain talent. It now offers members three ‘Labs’ – a Talent Acquisition Lab to help its members better achieve their recruiting goals; a Talent Management Lab to guide teams on talent strategy design through to delivery; and a Talent Development Lab focused around developing skills for now and the future.

The Talent Labs has brought in former National Highways organisational development director Ted Miller to lead the new talent management and development offers. Miller has also worked as head of learning and development at Pendragon and in various learning roles at Eon.

Originally inaugurated in 2007 as a forward-thinking LinkedIn group dedicated to recruiting excellence, and featuring at that time on the cover of Recruiter, the Talent Labs has grown from a niche community into a global membership organisation for talent professionals.

Mirrington, who has worked in talent acquisition and management for organisations including Unilever, Sky and Mars, co-founded The FIRM to address a significant market gap: the need for a dedicated networking and resource-sharing platform for recruitment professionals.

Its advisory board is composed of current and previous heads of resourcing, talent consultants and industry experts.

It offers regular masterclasses, bespoke research and practical tools tailored to the needs of talent management and development professionals.

With upcoming initiatives like the Collaborate Conference, successor to its FIRMdays, the Talent Labs will continue to bring together experts and practitioners from across the talent spectrum to share insights, strategies and best practices.

• Comment below on this story. Or let us know what you think by emailing us at [email protected] or tweet us to tell us your thoughts or share this story with a friend.

4 June 2024
Marketing, Executive search

NEW TO THE MARKET: 3-7 JUNE 2024

• IR35 compliance firm IR35 Shield has launched an IR35 Academy designed to equip businesses with the knowledge and skills to navigate the complexities of the off-payroll working rules (IR35) that will help protect them from future tax risks. The academy’s core modules provide comprehensive instruction on the origins of IR35, understanding employment status tests, the difference between the original IR35 and the reformed off-payroll rules, who is affected, determining tax status through compliant processes and HMRC’s requirements for reasonable care.

The academy offers training tailored to each business based on where they sit in the supply chain. Modules are based on business and give practical guidance aligned with their real-world operations.

• Oyster, a global employment platform to hire, pay and care for distributed teams, has launched Oyster Shell, offering companies an additional layer of protection from potential contractor misclassification risks. When organisations hire contractors on the Oyster platform, they have the option to enrol in contractor misclassification insurance for coverage up to $500k (£393k).

• Rubicon, a 100% employee-owned company, has relaunched its Senior Appointments sub-brand as Rubicon Executive, aiming to enhance the recruitment of C-Suite executives for UK businesses. Rubicon Executive focuses on diversity & inclusion in its recruitment process, noting that companies with diverse executive boards perform better financially. Additionally, Rubicon Executive stresses the importance of succession planning to maintain business resilience. The relaunch aims to distinguish Rubicon Executive’s specialised recruitment services from the broader Rubicon Recruitment portfolio, with a mission to place top-performing leaders who drive business success across the UK.

• Wave has launched its Candidate Attraction Playbook to help recruiters find the right candidates at the right time using data-driven strategies. The playbook, leveraging exclusive data from WaveTrackR, offers guidance on where to source candidates (eg. CRMs, job boards, websites, socials), when to post job ads for maximum exposure and what content to include in job ads to attract high-calibre applicants. This free resource aims to enhance recruiters’ effectiveness in a competitive and evolving job market by combining data insights with recruitment expertise.

21 May 2024
Public sector, Social care

Arden University develops apprenticeship course for NHS trust to address staff shortages

This was in response to Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust wanting to address staff shortages.

The course, which includes an executive MBA, provides current and future leaders with the knowledge, high-level leadership and management skills, and equips them with the desired behaviours they need, to become more effective. In doing so, it also delivers professional pan-industry leadership qualifications and a professional pathway to Chartered Manager status, a statement from Arden said.

The apprenticeship is designed to enhance the careers of current health and care workers, and as such, it can be completed via remote learning to ensure it fits in with the demands of their roles.

The apprenticeship offered a number of benefits for NUH, with staff who undertook the course “feeling more invested in the organisation”, the statement said. “This will have a positive effect on retention rates in the future.”

In recent years, with many roles at NUH hard to fill, staff retention had become increasingly important, the statement said.

Ensuring staff completed training feeling valued by NUH, while also leaving with an MBA qualification, was key.

The SLA is designed to accelerate NUH staff to the next stage of their career to lead departments, services, systems of care or transformation projects.

By working with Arden University, the statement said, NUH is able to target its apprenticeship activity within the services that typically struggle to recruit pre-qualified staff, while also allowing those who haven’t followed the traditional education routes to remain in work and gain a high-calibre qualification.

Through the qualification, NUH staff are able to develop their skills and careers, allowing further investment in the development of new talent. Since launching the apprenticeship for its team, NUH has reported that they not only witnessed staff that were undertaking the apprenticeships developing their skills, but also reported that the managers supporting apprentices developing their own line management and mentoring skills – allowing the apprenticeship process to, directly and indirectly, enable development.

• Comment below on this story. Or let us know what you think by emailing us at [email protected] or tweet us to tell us your thoughts or share this story with a friend.

19 April 2024
IT/Telecoms

Two US locations offer a new Scene for tech recruiter

According to a company statement, the new office locations will support Scene’s strategic expansion into the US and enable the company to better serve its US-based clients, as well as other clients hoping to enter the US market.

Three experienced employees have relocated to the US, including Pete Miller, Scene’s founder. The team brings with them a combined 30 years’ experience in talent, and a track record in advising early-stage companies on how to build high-performing teams.

Spearheading the US launch from New York, Miller says: “I’m excited to be driving our US expansion at this important time… I’m looking forward to growing the team to build on this success and establish Scene as a leading talent and growth partner to fast-growing technology companies in North America.”

In tandem with the New York office launch, Sandra Arezina will lead Scene’s go-to-market team in the US in Los Angeles. And joining her in the Los Angeles office is Ellie Shaxon, head of product, US.

• Comment below on this story. Or let us know what you think by emailing us at [email protected] or tweet us to tell us your thoughts or share this story with a friend.

17 April 2024
Transport & logistics, Engineering, Graduates/Apprentices/School leavers

British Airways Speedbird Pilot Academy programme opens for new applications

This follows an unprecedented response to its first year intake, which saw more than 20,000 applications for just 100 places.

The Speedbird Pilot Academy initiative, part of the airline’s £7bn investment across the business, is aimed at levelling the playing field and making a career as a commercial airline pilot a realistic option for all, removing the previously prohibitive cost barrier of individuals having to pay for their training themselves.

Simon Cheadle, British Airways’ director of flight operations, said: “We know from the overwhelming response and high standard of applications we had in the first year of Speedbird Pilot Academy, that there are a lot of talented people who just need a little bit of help to achieve their dream of becoming a commercial airline pilot – and we are pleased to give them that opportunity.

“We want to continue to attract the very best flying talent and our investment in this programme will help to ensure our future generation of pilots for years to come.”

Candidates will be able to apply for up to 100 places on the programme – that will see the approximate £100k cost of their training covered entirely by the airline – through the British Airways careers site.

• Comment below on this story. Or let us know what you think by emailing us at [email protected] or tweet us to tell us your thoughts or share this story with a friend.

15 April 2024
Creative/Digital/Media, IT/Telecoms, Hospitality/Leisure

NEW TO THE MARKET: 15-19 APRIL 2024

• LinkedIn has introduced Recruiter Verification, a new feature for recruiters aimed at enhancing authenticity and trust. This tool allows recruiters to verify their professional identity, indicating them as legitimate representatives of their company to jobseekers. Verification is based on information from their LinkedIn Recruiter corporate subscription, ensuring credibility. This feature will be rolled out globally to recruiters using LinkedIn Recruiter in the near future.

• Talent advisory specialist Peak 72 has launched a talent strategy and advisory service specialising in the sports, media and entertainment sectors. Peak 72 streamlines the recruitment process while preserving the essential human touch, according to a company statement. Through prioritising strategic partnerships over the traditional transactional model and a deep understanding of wider business objectives and talent strategy.

11 April 2024

Four payroll providers join HMRC ‘list of shame’

Newcomers to the ‘list of shame’ are Acacia Management Services, Alphasaint, Ultra Employment and Worx 4U.

HMRC updates the list regularly.

• Comment below on this story. Or let us know what you think by emailing us at [email protected] or tweet us to tell us your thoughts or share this story with a friend.

Recruiter Magazine

SUBSCRIBE TO PRINT
VIEW PAST ISSUES
Top