Working with a Recruitment Agency: How it can save your Business time and money

What is happening with the UK labour market? What trends are we seeing?

We’ve seen several changes in the UK economy and labour marketplace over the last couple of years; the effects of Brexit, changes in Government leadership, National Minimum Wage changes and UK policy forms affecting employers. We’re witnessing a fast-paced and often difficult labour market. The latest Spring Statement in March by the Labour government announced welfare cuts and attempts to help get more people back into work; it will be interesting to see what will happen as we move forward.

According to CIPD data, rising employment costs are likely to be a key concern, with the increases in both National Minimum Wage and Employers insurance contributions taking effect in April. Hiring activity is slowing as a consequence, as Employer confidence reduces, and it’s forcing employers to rethink workforce plans in both the short term and the long term, by making redundancies, raising prices and reducing investment. In fact CIPD data suggests around a third of employers are planning to reduce the number off employees they have through either redundancies or recruiting fewer employees and around 40% of businesses are planning to raise their prices. Looking at strategies to improve productivity will also need to be considered.

The importance of focusing on long term goals and getting the hiring decisions right will be paramount to avoid higher costs and lower productivity down the line, as well as being proactive and reviewing and revising your strategies when necessary.

This is where a recruitment agency can be an extension of your business and help you with both your short and long term hiring strategies. The CIPD estimates that just under 20% of employers are anticipating significant problems in filling vacancies over the next six months.

Looking at how the workforce is made up, there are over half a million fewer young people in the labour market than a decade ago (according to the REC). More than 50% of all jobs are now “high skilled” whereas only 20% are “low skilled”. These two factors, combined with a lower retention rate of people staying in their roles means that the candidate pool is decreasing and vacancies are becoming harder to fill. This is leading businesses to either raise wages or increase workloads, both of which are unsustainable. The other alternative is to delay hiring, which leads to issues with productivity and output.

So why work with a recruitment agency?

Forging a strong relationship with an agency and using their positioning, knowledge and experience should give any business a much stronger advantage in getting their recruitment and hiring strategy right and avoid higher costs further down the line. Research from the REC from 2017 (figures would likely be much higher now) showed that a poor hire at mid manager level with a salary of £42,000 could cost a business more than £132,000.

Benefits of working with a Recruitment Agency

• Cost savings and cost control – with increases in the NMW and Employers National Insurance, these will add costs on to businesses when they’re hiring directly. Using an agency for temporary staff can help you better manage these costs and be more cost-effective, especially in the short term
• Knowledge & Expertise – Linear Recruitment knows its stuff! We’ve been in business for over twenty years and with that comes plenty of knowledge and experience of the marketplace, recruitment strategies and branch-led and onsite recruitment
• Diverse and compliant candidate and talent pool – reputable agencies build and invest in their candidate databases and networks and have access to compliant candidates with the right skills for you, and can supply anything from one worker up to an entire workforce
• Flexibility – agencies can supply candidates at short notice and adhere to your hiring needs depending on peak times
• Reduced risk – with agency staff you can scale up and down as required; hiring direct permanent staff comes with risks if it doesn’t work out, with notice periods, redundancy costs and other obligations
• Time savings – outsourcing the hiring and onboarding processes will help you save time and allow you to focus o other aspects of your business knowing that your recruitment plans are in place

How to get the best out of your agency?

• Don’t deprioritise your recruitment needs
• Choose your agency wisely and brief the agency properly on what you’re looking for, don’t work with agencies who send you unsuitable clients
• Be honest and open with your agency. Let them know if you’re working with other agencies on the roles and what your expectations are
• Don’t be underhand and try to take on the candidate behind the agency’s back
• Let the agency work on the role properly – not only will this ensure you get the right candidate, but it will also save you time in the long run
• Communicate – give feedback on candidates, whether they’re suitable or not
• Understand that working with your agency is like a business partnership, and you’ll get the best out of it and get the best talent into your workforce

 At Linear we are passionate about providing the highest levels of service to all our customers with key focus on building strong relationships, operating to stringent compliance standards and honouring our company values. It's our ambition to be your Recruiter of Choice and it's our job to match people with their perfect job. Our clients trust us to source and place the most suitable candidate to fill their vacancy, and our candidates trust us to place them in a position which fulfils their ambitions. 

Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to see how we can help you and your business.