Wed, 10 Nov 2011

British food manufacturer Premier Foods reports that 75% of the 16 permanent recruiters who last year invested £10,000 each in the company’s “mutual investment” in business development initiative have confirmed their interest in taking part for a second year.

The programme came under fire last week from anonymous agency recruiters, following an email sent to suppliers on 29 October from a senior procurement manager for HR services at the food manufacturer.

The scheme offers participating firms on Premier Foods’ preferred supplier list (PSL) benefits such as special events, quarterly business updates, usage of the firm’s logo, brand and testimonials, and an invitation to a charity event.

“It is a mutual investment in the development of the business,” said Stuart Read, head of corporate services procurement at Premier Foods, in a statement to Recruiter. “It is not compulsory and there are no sanctions against those who choose not to participate.”

He added: “We received really positive feedback from those who participated last year. They told us that they are seeing clear value from being part of the programme.”

The email to the recruiters also said that firms did not have to be a member of the scheme to be on the PSL. However, it noted that the most important benefit scheme participants had realised was “they have placed 60% of all placements, despite only being 33% of our PSL supply list”.

A company source contended that quality performance was a deciding factor in placing and retaining suppliers on the PSL. Premier Foods seeks to reduce its suppliers to less than 5,000 across the business by 2012 from over 11,000 three years ago.

An estimated 45-50 recruiters on Premier Foods’ PSL.