High street recruiter Adecco has pledged to give refunds to unhappy clients as part of a standards drive to counter criticisms of the trade.

The 12-step programme is already reaping rewards, according to Steven Kirkpatrick (pictured), who has become chief operations officer of Adecco as part of a recent board restructure. He believes the new ‘commitments’ for candidates and clients have won back companies that Adecco had previously spent 18 months trying to court.

The Adecco commitments have set core levels of response times and quality of candidates for clients, and rate the suitability of vacancies, skills development and benefits programmes for candidates. It has been launched in the UK after a successful pilot scheme in France.

The scheme includes providing refund vouchers if candidates do not match requirements or a 10% discount from the next invoice if a placement cannot be found.

Kirkpatrick said: “The clients that we speak to have been amazed that we have put our money where our mouth is. Our programme does exactly what it says on the tin.”

Adecco has already begun to issue some discount vouchers to clients. “Some candidates had got themselves another job after they had been placed, which happens in our industry,” said Kirkpatrick.

Candidates are also benefiting from perks previously only available to permanent workers. “It’s our way of saying to a candidate: ‘We’re serious about you’,” said Kirkpatrick.