'Can't I just fill out a standard form from the HMRC website?'

From Safe Computing TS AWR seminars

'Will I need to change my front and back office systems, or invest in additional software?'

Taken from the Safe Computing travel subsistence (TS) and agency workers regulations (AWR) seminars.

2011 is a tough legislative year for recruiters

Hello bloggers, Renata Jones here, lead generation manager for Safe Computing.  I hope you enjoy reading my blogs, and in this most recent instalment I explore why I believe this year seems to be a tough one for recruitment agencies. It is only February and 2011 is shaping up to be a year of moderate discontent, especially for recruitment companies, perhaps their toughest yet.

Well publicised in the world media is the period of austerity we are all experiencing to some degree following the impact of a global recession. Essentially a fancy way of saying we are all watching the pennies and tightening our proverbial belts. The recruitment industry has long experienced increasing regulation as a minority of less ethical companies gave the industry as a whole a bad name. Increases in regulations to travel and subsistence schemes and from the new agency workers regulation that come into effect from October, make 2011 no exception to this rule.

Navigating these macro economic factors and remaining a profitable recruitment business can be an arduous task with limited in-house experience, so why not let some recruitment agency specific software take some of the pressure off your organisation? Recruiting software can for instance manage applications, parsing CV information received automatically from web based portals, also known as cloud computing, for candidates to basically do information inputting for you, without a tedious form for them. Recruitment management software can help your business manage multiple employments of your employees within the same timeframe. Pay and bill software can help you process timesheets, pay accordingly, and manage correctly your national insurance (NI) payments. So what are all these miraculous software tools called? Well actually they all have one name, Safe Tempest. From one basic system specifically engineered for the recruitment agency market, Safe Tempest can be customised with modular optional extras to archive all of the above recruitment management functions of your business, letting you do what you do best, focus on the people. Cut down your administration and interview more candidates, and meet with your customers more, building your relationships and your business. Safe Tempest recruitment software is used by most of the top 50 recruiters in the UK and Ireland, and will scale to the size of your business as it grows. There is even a range of optional extras which can enhance this software, and Safe can create custom built bespoke additional modules on request. Safe also offer software for smaller users numbers and businesses.

To find out more speak to your account manager, or visit www.safe-tempestsuite,co.uk and click on the ‘enquire online’ link. If there is a topic you’d like me to explore in a future blog post, please contact me using info@safecomputing.co.uk.

Renata

Eddie Young writes ...’A wise man pointed out to me many years ago that for every pound of unnecessary expenditure, it takes two extra pounds of revenue to return it to profit.

Competition has never been greater than in the staffing world. The fight for margin is a tough one, especially where clients hold the upper hand on billing rates. This situation tends to focus the mind of staffing companies on the ‘coalface’ of sales negotiation. With the hope that volume negotiated there, will offset low unit margin. It is the service industry equivalent of ‘pile them high, and sell them cheap’.

Basic bookkeeping teaches that revenue generation is just one half of the equation. Controlling costs is equally important. Many employment businesses find their processes have grown around ‘necessity’, without regard to cost. Volume business, discounted or not, might improve the gross margin but can severely impact the bottom line. Support systems responsible for the processing of the payroll for workers, and the raising of invoices to clients, and cash collection, can struggle to keep up. The solution is all too often an increase in headcount, or squeezing even more commitment out of staff in the middle or back office.

It is time to take a step backwards and regroup.

Firstly, there should be no ‘sacred cows’. Laissez-faire should  absolutely the last option.

Secondly, how much of the additional strain is there on systems which process data the business collects? Could these strains be eased by thinking a little bit smarter? How much of your data is collected and keyed into computer systems multiple times? The days of duplication should be put firmly behind us. Such duplication is not only inefficient, it breeds error.

Thirdly, can the increased efficiency of such a systematic review only benefit your staffing business? Can efficiency also improve the level of service to stakeholders, such as the clients, workers, and suppliers you interact with?

Fourthly, business systems are already available to address the challenges of the modern staffing world. It is not unchartered territory.

Finally, you can bet your bottom dollar that even if you eschew any consideration of change, your competitors probably won’t. Change can be for the better of your business, and can sometimes even put you ahead of the competition.

Go on. Make the change. Feel the benefits!

Hi I’m Eddie Young, and this is the second in a series of blog entries I hope to bring you, exploring some of the burning issues faced by our industry today. In this instalment, I’ll be talking about ways you can cut costs and increase efficiency, both important for survival in our difficult current economic climate.

Clients are savvy these days, you can’t get the most money just by charging the clients more! You have to create efficiencies by reducing procedural costs, while increasing business efficiency. We have developed products to try and assist with these aims. These include timesheets which can be sent to a fax server. Or, we can even help with electronic collection of timesheet data via scanning, web portals, and client timesheet data via spreadsheets. The days of one size fits all are over! You don’t have to have one stakeholder doing all the work. Someone could be doing the inputting remotely, and sending it to you electronically, saving you precious time and resources.

Removing a paper trail is vital. Not only is this vital for saving our planets resources in these increasingly greener days, but also to save time, and reduce margin for error. Electronic timesheets eliminate the time lag between a timesheets completion, authorisation, and processing. Debtor days are reduced, as invoicing can be completed days earlier than the paper based equivalent.

I’m not describing the world of science fiction, this is happening today. Even where some of our clients don’t feel ready for electronic authorisation of timesheets, there is a gentle introduction. The ability to deliver to a worker their timesheet for the week, and print it ‘in the old fashioned way’ once completed, can be achieved electronically. This method is regarded by some of our software users as an introduction to the principle.

I’ll be writing a further few blog entries soon, but would be interesting in hearing your thoughts on these matters or anything else relevant to our industry on info@safecomputing.co.uk!

Hi I’m Eddie Young, and thank you for reading my blog. I want this space to be about the burning issues that face our industry, and this is the first of what I hope to be a series of blog posts.

Employment businesses are increasingly reviewing their relations with clients and workers, in the light of further legislation, coming soon. They are considering the impacts of this legislation in this changing market.

Back in 1998, there was a lot of talk about holiday pay, and a lot was around how to minimise its impact on margins! This view was a reflection of an anticipation, that the agencies were worried they might have to make temps move off their books early! One client was worried they might have to finish a temporary worker, on a Friday, only to restart them on a Monday, to avoid any pitfalls and complications around continuous service!

Thankfully temporary workers are a little more savvy these days, and know they are entitled to the same rights as those in comparable roles, but what are comparable roles? There are no official guidelines from the government on this. Agencies have to agree these with clients, and clients need to agree what they will accept after 12 weeks service, as rates may increase.  People seem to currently have their ‘heads in the sand’ over this issue, and we need to find a way forwards.

Ireland have taken advantage of the ambiguity, and can’t give any firm dates yet on the agency workers directive (AWD) current issue. Rather than just revise that aspect, they are looking at their whole legislation in relation to agency workers.

I’ll explore some of these issues more in a further few blog entries, but would be interesting in hearing your thoughts on info@safecomputing.co.uk!