Pay and Benefits

From 1 October temporary employees working 12 consecutive weeks will be given the same basic rights – including holidays, overtime allowances and pay – as permanent staff at the same company.

Inevitably, this will result in significant challenges for payroll departments at recruitment agencies and companies that regularly engage short-term staff.

The 12-week count

A big challenge facing HR and payroll departments will be administering the time and attendance (T&A) of temporary staff, and determining the accrual of the 12-week qualifying period under the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR). There are many factors that affect the qualifying “clock”, such as breaks for sickness, maternity leave, holidays and jury service. This will put payroll under increasing pressure to accurately track the attendance of temporary workers and apply the correct pay rates and bonuses to employee contracts.

Determining calculations under AWR will inevitably rest with payroll. However, investing in an automated T&A system could help minimise its impact.

The emergence of GPRS technology has added a new dimension to the performance of T&A solutions and subsequently workforce management software is seen as the perfect solution to support AWR compliance.

Enabling communication

GPRS connection allows data-capture devices such as mobile phones, biometric hand scan or fingerprint terminals to communicate with web-based, back-office management software without the need for cabling or access to a support infrastructure. This wireless connectivity is ideal for recruitment agencies looking to monitor temporary workers as terminals can easily be installed and uninstalled on client sites.

Once an employee clocks in, all captured data is transferred to a web portal, enabling managers to monitor employee T&A wherever their location. Using this, managers can instantly be alerted when temporary workers are coming up to the 12-week qualifying period to prevent unknown breaches.
This clocking data can be directly fed into automated timesheets and compatible payroll software to streamline the process and remove the need for manual input. Company-specific pay rules for overtime, bonuses and holidays can also be entered into the system and automatically applied to individual profiles when they meet the threshold.

Forward-planning features can help employers gain a better understanding of their workforce costs. By using scheduling features held within the software, managers are able to plan and roster their resources more effectively to cope with projected workloads and pre-empt when workers will approach the 12-week mark.

Furthermore, workforce management software can support firms with travel and subsistence schemes by recording evidence and storing history of employee claims.

Adequate preparation

Failure to comply with AWR can land businesses in hot water. Managers need to be aware that systematically managing a workforce to avoid agency workers from completing the qualifying period can result in serious financial and reputational damage. This includes compensation awards of up to
£5,000 in an employment tribunal. Employers should not risk long-term damage and losing potentially experienced staff merely to avoid offering them the same entitlements as permanent workers. Instead, they need to look for solutions that are proven to deliver administrative and cost-saving benefits across the entire business.

Many companies will look for support from their recruitment partners to ensure compliance, and much of the responsibility will fall on the shoulders of payroll departments. Recruitment agencies need to realise that AWR presents a real opportunity to boost their efficiencies. Offering automated T&A solutions as part of their service delivery can produce real-time visibility of working patterns to their existing customers and help win new business.

For employers themselves, a review of temporary workforce costs is essential, and deploying a T&A solution throughout their entire organisation could provide greater insight into the company’s overall performance.

Christian Berenger is Business Development Director at Auto Time Solutions