Posted by Alex Turner
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation's (REC) recent Policy Forum in Northern Ireland has served to highlight the cost and bureaucracy that agencies have had to contend with under the Agency Workers' Regulations (AWR), which were introduced on December 5th.
In addition to this, however, the Forum also confirmed that demand for flexible staffing had remained strong and, despite ongoing economic concerns, was actually increasing in some sectors.
Tom Hadley, REC director of policy and professional services, commented: "Employers are approaching the regulations in different ways with some working in full partnership with agencies and others adopting a more detached stance.
"Encouraging the collaborative approach is a core aim of our ongoing client campaign."
AWR was introduced in the rest of the UK on October 1st, with the majority of recruitment industry analysts suggesting that it has made minimal difference.
Mr Hadley, for his part, said that he expects the agency market to thrive post-AWR.