Misguided deal could cripple flexible workforce, says expert

Plans to give temporary and agency workers equal rights to their permanently employed counterparts could cripple the UKís flexible workforce, according to one industry expert.

The Government recently announced plans to give any worker who has worked in one job for 12 weeks or longer rights to equal treatment alongside their permanent colleagues.

But one industry expert warned the deal would both hurt the UKís temporary workers in the short term and damage the countryís flexible workforce for years to come.

As well as costing the UK thousands of jobs, Tom Liptrot, director of Leeds-based temporary staffing specialist, Esprit People, claims the deal will cause existing temporary workers to lose their jobs rather than become permanent staff.

Mr Liptrot said: ìThis deal will ensure two things straight away: firstly that anybody in a temporary job for more than 12 weeks is laid off, and secondly that companies who can send jobs overseas to cheaper, more flexible markets, will do so.

ìNot only will existing temporary workers lose their current jobs, but future temp staff could lose any chance of getting flexible work at all.î

Mr Liptrot also warned that there were tens of thousands of temporary workers who, until now, could expect to be paid a premium to compensate for the fact that they had no permanent contract.

Under the latest deal, they will be forced to accept pay cuts in return for employment rights they had previously opted not to take.

ìThis deal, and the draft Agency and Temporary Workers Bill which preceded it, were both created from the perception that all temporary workers were being exploited,î he added.

ìFortunately, that was always far from being the truth.

ìWhat agency workers needed was fair pay. What they have got is an interfering Nanny State intent on taking away their right to flexible work and willing to damage the economy at large to do so.

ìIts good intentions have become so misguided, it is creating far more problems than it is solving ñ and it will be the economy at large which suffers.î

Esprit People specialises in recruiting temporary workers for a range of businesses across engineering, industrial, driving, commercial and retail sectors.

Mr Liptrot had previously called for the Government to ensure temporary workers were paid at least as well as their permanent counterparts, but stop short of giving them equal rights.