The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has launched a ‘Voice of the Worker’ campaign to ‘champion and protect’ the UK’s temporary workforce.
The UK’s temporary labour market works well for people, firms and the modern economy – with about a million temps working every day. Its success, said the REC, at bringing and retaining people in the labour force is vital to the new government’s central mission of driving economic growth.
By putting real-life stories of temps at its heart, the REC campaign shows why temping works for many individuals, and that government, businesses and unions should collaborate closely to support it.
Under the banner “Temp Work Works”, the campaign launches just weeks before the government tables its Employment Rights Bill.
Temporary workers
Neil Carberry, REC chief executive, said: “Flexibility at work is something to feel optimistic about. It is working for millions of people. Individual choice and employers’ need for a versatile workforce can be brought together to deliver better careers and higher productivity.”
“As our new survey and video case studies show, flexibility is a vital bridge to work for people who need to balance caring responsibilities, work despite health issues, combine work and study, and upskill.”
He argues that the government needs to ensure new rules support temps and that it needs to have a real understanding of their lives. Businesses too should ensure that they think of temporary workers as people to support and develop, he added.
“Getting this right is crucial because our acute labour and skills shortages mean we need to fill record numbers of vacancies, with a mix of temporary and permanent jobs. And we can close productivity gaps by giving people more varied and developmental career paths.
“Good and lasting workforce changes that are effective for workers and businesses, happen when employers and government work together to determine what works for everyone. We passionately hope our new campaign will help even more policymakers appreciate the opportunity temporary work brings, the benefits it offers, and why it is life-changing in many ways.
“The new government has won a huge mandate to go for growth and we are excited to be working with them to support that – but as our Voice of the Worker campaign shows, success in that mission rests primarily on getting the people stuff right in workplaces around the country.”
The REC commissioned interviews with 520 temp agency workers in Britain and found that 79% said their work provides an important need for flexibility. More than two-thirds of temp agency workers (68%) said their work provides a greater work-life balance, and 53% believe that temping is the right kind of role for their current stage in life – an active choice.
Case studies for the Voice of the Worker campaign include radiographer Clare Wray, who said: “I’ve worked in the NHS for 18 years, but I just found that I could have an impact and effect with my clinical knowledge and experience in a way that I couldn’t do in permanent roles.
“As locums, you must go in and be effective straight away because the teams are already very short-staffed. I seem to have the skill set to be able to go in straight away and be effective straight away. I always want to stay a radiographer, but hopefully, I’ll achieve my aim of succeeding to be a qualified radiation section advisor.”
Ikenna Okpara, a temp worker doing a screenwriting masters degree, said: “The importance of working and studying is taking care of the financial burden, pays your rent, buys food. As an international student, I’m only allowed to work for 20 hours a week and it would be nice for students, especially master students, to have more hours.”
Micha Clacken, a 111 clinical advisor in the West Midlands: “Agency nursing has given me the freedom to pick my own hours which in turn has helped me manage my mental health. I have found being able to book short hours more often has given me the freedom to balance work with being a single mother without feeling overwhelmed. Without agency nursing, I would have left the profession many years ago due to the inflexible hours a substantive post requires.”
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