New
regulations announced by the Government aimed at making it easier for temporary
workers to become permanent employers are potentially disastrous.
This
is the view of the Association of Technology Staffing Companies which warns
that the reform of the employment agency regulations will stifle labour market
flexibility and damage employers and employers alike.
Under
the regulations a firm will not be charged a transfer fee by an agency if it
recruits an employee previously employed for more than six weeks as a temporary
worker, providing at least eight weeks elapses after the original hiring
finished.
Agencies
will also receive no fee if a temporary worker transfers to direct employment
on a temporary basis or if their contract is taken over by another recruitment
agency, providing four weeks pass since the original hiring finished.
Ann
Swain, chief executive of ATSCo said the reform of the regulations was
counter-productive for the IT industry.
She
commented, “If implemented these regulations will herald an unprecedented
period of poaching and predatory tactics in the IT industry. Smaller IT
recruitment companies will be endangered, contractors will be bought and sold
and consolidation will drive out competition.”
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By
Ben Willmott
