Flexible arrangements

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

The survey found that too many organisations are unwilling to invest in staff. Nick Clement, Business Development Director, Indeed Flex explained: “Many employers just invest what they need to invest and that’s it, which is short term thinking.”

There were some interesting approaches to this conundrum with one participant being forced to take on a less qualified candidate which requires “investing more over a longer period of time and hoping that that person stays for between three and five years to pay back the return”.

When it comes to relatively unskilled roles, another panelist passionately believes in taking on people without the requisite background but with the right attitude, as “the rest will follow”.

Participants noted that they do struggle to find the right people. Said one: Maybe taking a punt is an unfair expression, but since the pandemic we’re not seeing the level of interest or skills that we were previously, so you’ve got to broaden your scope to find the right attributes to do the job, as the number of quality candidates has seemed to drop.”

After bringing their cleaning contract in-house, another FM found that despite the fact some had been working for the organisation for 20 plus years “they hadn’t really been looked after.” Improvements to their conditions like more generous sick pay, additional remuneration for out of hours working and access to training, including English language lessons have resulted in a much more motivated team.

However, perhaps because it was hitherto not paid for, sick leave at that organisation has increased. The reality is that sickness levels are a challenge among frontline workers, which is not surprising in roles which are traditionally low paid with long unsociable hours. Despite this, one of the FMs who manages two cleaning teams with the healthcare sector revealed their sickness levels were low, due in no small part to what was described as “a community vibe” where members of the team have the attitude that if they go off sick it’s “putting it onto” other colleagues.

Another major issue is in budgeting for absences. Finance departments may assume a certain level of absences and generally take what is the best possible outcome out of those assumptions. Explained a participant: “The finance department assume the best-case scenario, but it’s your job to plan for the worst-case scenario and the truth normally lies somewhere in the middle. I always strive to persuade them to accept that middle ground.”

LEGISLATION

With FMs often relying on agency staff to fill staffing gaps, Alexandra Mizzi, Legal Director, Howard Kennedy LLP outlined the employment ramifications of proposed changes to legislation.

She explained that the King’s speech included references to tackling what the Government describes as “exploitative zero hours contracts”. The Government wants to require employers to provide people with contracts that reflect the number of hours they work, the suggestion being that it will be reflect their average hours over a 12-week period.

“It raises the question of whether employers will want to try and rely on outsourcing instead,” suggests Mizzi, “but I think it’s likely to encourage the use of technological solutions to try and predict the actual need – so that you have a better idea of what hours you can offer.”

This illustrates the value of using the flex approach, said Farrier where everything you do is based on an app and a platform. “It gives employers or service providers access to an app, which the worker can access as well,” he explained, “giving all parties visibility and control and instant access. It’s all pre-verified and pre-qualified, so you’re not going to get a chef asked to do a cleaning job.”

From a legal standpoint, compliance is vital, and the question was put to Mizzi on the duties of employers to ensure temporary workers have the requisite competence to meet compliance regulations.

She explained that employers are required to carry out a risk assessment and part of this would be the fact that temporary staff may be at additional risk, because they may be working outside of office hours and are less likely to be supervised.

“In most cases, checking qualifications and references would be the responsibility of the direct employer or the supplier, but obviously there are ramifications for you too as an end user, client. It’s important to make sure that you consult with the contractor to stipulate who is responsible.”