Flex Recruitment Plus Employer Zone News Feed

12/01/2012 Important Changes to Employment Legislation in 2012

12/01/2012

Employment legislation has consistently needed constant attention over the years. 2012 will not be different in terms of addressing some of the key legislative developments that will soon crop up.

Here are 6 of the main legislative changes that will occur in 2012:

The following are just a few of the many highlights that have thrilled us this year; followed by the prospects we look forward to in 2012.

2011 highlights

FlexPlus Job Board – We launched the Flex Recruitment Job Board in February 2011 and it really has grown from strength to strength. Some household names....

12/01/2012 Cut the middleman out in 2012

12/01/2012

Organisational recruitment strategies have been the subject of much debate over the years. The direct hiring vs. recruitment agency (or middleman) hiring argument continues to rage with the pendulum swinging tentatively from side to side depending on which guru has lent his voice to which side. In more recent times, however, technology has lent its full weight to the direct hiring side, with potential consequences that threaten to all but eliminate....

12/01/2012 Get promoted in 2012 - 7 tips

12/01/2012

Ever found yourself wondering what others are doing to get ahead in the professional race? Well, it may be that a few of the tricks listed below could finally do it for you. In fact, now wouldn’t be too bad a time to set your sights on climbing the ladder, as historically, a lot of professionals tend to set career goals at the start of the year. Here are just a few of the tips that could well set you apart and give you that competitive edge....

16/11/2011 Economic uncertainty demands agility and flexibility

16/11/2011

Ever get the sense that, depending on which source you read and when you read it, we are either on the brink of a financial meltdown or things are starting to look rosy again? We are in the middle of an ‘information vs. counter-information war’ where, truth be told, “really, no one knows what is going on”. Of course, no big shot economist or forecast guru is ever going to admit to that. And, perhaps, the issue is not so much the cross information but our strategic response to the uncertainty.

How the pessimistic half....

16/11/2011 To outsource or not to outsource…

16/11/2011

Now that Talent Acquisition has become the strategy for future success, the question is: Should your business handle your recruitment in-house or outsource to agencies?

You may or may not be familiar with Pareto’s Principle, but it states that: 80% of results are generated by 20% of the effort exerted. Flavour of the year corporate strategy is:

Focus more resources on the 20%....

16/11/2011 AWR – Which way did you go?

16/11/2011

The Agency Workers Regulations have been in the headlines of late, and with good reason. A lot of opinions and solutions have been thrown about, some fair and considered while others are more a fair reflection of the frustration that this piece of legislation has stirred up. Either way, if you are a firm that uses agency workers then you will have to implement an AWR strategy in order to comply with the regulations.

By way of recapping,....

16/11/2011 It's Lift-off for the FlexPlus Digital CV

16/11/2011

After many months of planning and working hard behind the scenes, we are pleased to announce the launch of the revolutionary Flex Digital CV. The Flex Digital CV is a platform that incorporates many innovative features including video and audio capability, and provides space to upload samples of work, certificates, qualifications, references and more, allowing candidates to better stand out from the crowd. The Flex Digital CV is very flexible and can....

16/11/2011 10 Tips on How to Hire the Best Talent

16/11/2011

‘Just because the job market is flooded doesn’t mean that the best candidates will automatically jump out of the water and straight into your company’s net’... That’s the analysis that is currently coming out of many HR reviews and I would have to agree with that analysis. In these conditions, it’s easy for employers to forget that they still have to compete for the best talent. Well, if you are one of those companies with an eye on the very best talent, then here are a few tips on how to best position your business so as to attract the best....

16/11/2011 Client 2 Client Connect

16/11/2011

We are very excited to be launching a new feature in both our newsletters (The Clients Newsletter and the Workers Newsletter) called Client 2 Client Connect. This new feature, a completely free service, is a way of saying ‘Thank you!’ to our loyal readers who have stuck with us over the years.

Client 2 Client Connect is a feature that will allow one company on our database to reach the other 25 000 companies on our database with a specific message or promotion. In this current economic climate I....

12/09/2011 5 Perilous AWR Misconceptions

12/09/2011

Use our AWR Cost Calculator

In less than 2 weeks the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) will come into effect. By now you’d expect that everyone who uses temporary or agency staff would be ‘clued up’ on AWR.....

12/09/2011 Wobbling Economy Fuels Demand For Flexible Workers

12/09/2011

The economy continues to wobble, seemingly unable to shake off the ‘hangover’ of the last recession. How long this ‘hangover’ will last is anyone’s guess. ‘What to do’ while this period of economic uncertainty continues is the subject of much debate. What is certain is the fact that employers have been put off recruiting permanent staff and now prefer the less risky option of temporary or flexible staff – a strategy....

12/09/2011 Dealing With Applicant Quantity vs. Quality

12/09/2011

The job market conditions seen in the last 2 years have been the toughest experienced in post war Britain. We know what these conditions mean for job seekers – cut throat competition for limited opportunities. But, what do they mean for employers?

As the job market gets tougher and tougher, the number of applications per position is just going to keep on rising. Recently, 5,000 people queued up for 100 jobs at Southampton....

12/09/2011 Online Recruitment Seminar Review

12/09/2011

Check out the iintegra:1040 video

We recently held an online recruitment seminar which received positive reviews from all those who attended. The main speaker at our seminar was the excellent Michelle Davies (Managing Director of Candidate Source). Michelle’s presentation (Writing Effective Online Adverts) was inspired and many of the delegates left with useful....

12/09/2011 FlexPlus Launch New Smart Phone App

12/09/2011

Smart phone ‘app’ (application) technology seems to be everywhere these days and it has been widely accepted as a means of useful interaction while people are on the move. This development has not escaped us at FlexPlus and we are pleased to announce that we will be launching our new smart phone app in the next 2 weeks.

Candidates will be able to download the ‘app’ for free using their smart phone. The new FlexPlus app will....

01/07/2011 Is the Fit Note Fit for Purpose?

01/07/2011

The new “Fit Note” which replaced the sick note has received mixed reviews from employers, employees and doctors themselves. One wonders whether we will see a “U-turn” on the policy should it prove unpopular with ‘stakeholders’.

Businesses have already started to return their verdict on the policy. More than a third of businesses think that the fit note has made “absolutely no difference at all” to the ‘return to work’ process. According to....

01/07/2011 Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) Seminar

01/07/2011

What is the French Extension Option? If your answer is: “I haven’t got the foggiest”, you should have been at our AWR seminar. We recently invited employment expert Paul Chamberlain of Brabners and Chaffe Street Solicitors to speak at our Agency Workers Regulations Seminar. Paul condensed his expert knowledge on the Agency Workers Regulations into a highly informative and thought-and-action provoking 3 hour talk. Many of the seminar delegates....

01/07/2011 The Bribery Act comes into force on 1 July 2011

01/07/2011

The Bribery Act comes into force on the 1st of July 2011. I have put together some useful points to give you an overview of the Act. This summary is merely informative and is not to be construed as legal advice of any sort.

Definition of a bribe according to the Bribery Act: giving someone a financial or other advantage to encourage that person to perform their functions or activities improperly or....

01/07/2011 The Real Cost of Recruitment

01/07/2011

It has always been widely accepted that the real cost of recruitment is the percentage fee your agency charges to deliver a new recruit. I am not surprised that a lot of people think that recruitment fees are the real cost of recruitment. But, what if at the end of this seemingly expensive recruitment process you match the right job with the wrong person? What is the cost then, especially in these times of high volume applications?....

14/04/2011 National Minimum Wage Increase...Again

14/04/2011

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) will rise again by 2.5% in 2011. Can employers afford it? Perhaps a more pointed question would be: What impact will it have on businesses that can’t afford it? The increase though should make workers on the NMW smile but, will it?

06/04/2011 Employment legislation recap:2011

06/04/2011

If you are in management then I am sure that you can relate to one of its main challenges: dealing with the constantly evolving legislative landscape. Just when you thought you had things under control, another legislative development pops up. 2011 has been no exception to the ‘moving goals’ game. Below is a summary of 6 of the major legislative changes that you may need to be aware of:-

1. There are 2 major changes that will affect maternity and paternity leave.

06/04/2011 5,000 Queue for 100 Airport Jobs

06/04/2011

Recently, 5,000 people queued up for 100 jobs at Southampton Airport. Jan Halliday, director of marketing at the airport, said: “The interest was greater than we had anticipated.” This was by no means a freak incident or a one off. A quick scan of the recruitment headlines indicates that this is fast becoming an all too familiar occurrence. Another recent headline shouted: “1,800 people apply for 68 jobs at Tesco”. Other recruitment....

06/04/2011 Mistakes interviewers make

06/04/2011

Every now and again an interview gaffe performed by a candidate does the rounds and instantly attains notoriety – thanks largely to the internet. One could almost be forgiven for thinking that only interviewees make mistakes in interviews. But, as this article will show, even interviewers can get it wrong as well.

In a poll carried out by Monster.co.uk, almost 30% of interviewers admitted to having forgotten a candidate’s name. It’s easy to get away with not remembering a....

06/04/2011 New Economy Job Titles

06/04/2011

What does a Visual Executive Officer do? Let me give you another chance: what does a Curator of the Enlightened Orchard do? I kid you not, these are real job titles. Another one, what does a Director of Happiness do? Three strikes: you are out!

Back in the day job titles used to give an indication of the job role. For example, you could be sure that a Marketing Executive dealt with....

06/04/2011 Dates for your Diary

06/04/2011

Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) Seminar : Wednesday 25 May 2011

Speaker: Paul Chamberlain, Partner and Head of Employment at Brabners Chaffe Street Solicitors.

Paul has specialist expertise in the law relating to recruitment agencies and is the appointed employment law adviser to TEAM (The Employment Agents' Movement) and ALP (the Association of Labour Providers). Paul was instrumental....

17/02/2011 Hammonds Furniture to save well over £100K by using Flex’s Online Recruitment Services

17/02/2011

FlexPlus’s main goal as a ‘recruitment solutions business’ has always been to deliver measureable recruitment savings without compromising on the quality of service. Coincidentally, the most frequent question asked in many a board room in the last 3 years has probably been “How do we achieve more with less?” We emphatically answered this....

17/02/2011 Successful Candidate job board launch

17/02/2011

We have just launched our completely redesigned website for candidates. We had been working flat out for the last 2 months to redesign it. To check out the new job board, please click here. Already there are encouraging signs from the statistics that confirm that our investment has been successful.

Features: There are a lot of new features on the job....

17/02/2011 The employer and the digital CV of the future

17/02/2011

The traditional Word CV has been around for a number of years – possibly 15 to 20 years. The question which then begs to be asked is: “Is the traditional CV still fit for purpose?” Some will argue passionately that there is no substitute for the traditional ink-on-paper Word format that has been reliable for donkeys years. Others however will suggest that the written Word CV is a poor fit for these technologically advanced times. Whatever the argument, alternatives to the Word version CV worthy of note have begun to mushroom in the last 5 years or so. One such alternative is the....

17/02/2011 Coping with the imminent tidal wave of job applications

17/02/2011

A recent survey conducted by XpertHR has confirmed that the top priority for companies in the private sector is hiring staff and improving recruitment procedures. Other findings in the job market suggest that there is an obvious and expected rise in demand for jobs. News headlines such as ‘5,000 queue for 100 airport jobs’ are becoming all too common. The fact may be that you want to recruit new employees, but the question is: “Can you cope with the tidal wave of applications?” A more constructive question may be: “What can you do to cope?”

The intended increase in....

06/12/2010 Lack of awareness about AWR 2011

06/12/2010

Our recent discussions with both potential and existing clients have indicated an alarming lack of awareness of the Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) that will come into effect on 1 October 2011.

The regulations will implement an EU directive requiring the basic employment terms and conditions of agency workers after a qualifying period of 12 weeks to be no less favourable than those of permanently employed staff. These new rules could have a significant impact on business as companies finalise their HR and budget plans for....

06/12/2010 Do you want to share my aircraft carrier?

06/12/2010

"What could I possibly learn from the military that is relevant to my business?" you might ask. Well, Phil Knight, the founder of corporate giant Nike once said, "business is war without bullets". The only weapons we need are cash, products and a sales team to attack the enemy.

Many lessons have already been learnt from the military in years gone by, and much of the strategic talk in the boardroom adopts old military language as we "attack competitors" and "defend ourselves" from the enemy. The recent news of military co-operation with France to create an Anglo-French rapid....

06/12/2010 Increased Use of Temporary Staff forecast for 2011

06/12/2010

The end of the year always seems like a good time for some reflection...I have been working in the recruitment industry for just over 20 years. In that time I have also survived 3 major economic slumps. One of the things I have noticed in the past three recessions, is how economic uncertainty always corresponds to an increased use of agency or temporary staff.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation's latest Jobs Outlook supports this position.

In the next three months (January to March 2011), nearly a quarter (22%) of UK employers plan to increase their....

06/12/2010 Our Human Resources (Recruitment) Predictions for 2011

06/12/2010

At the end of every year there are events that you think will happen in the coming year. When those events actually occur, you wish you had told someone so that you can be justified in doing a little victory dance! Well, this year I have compiled a list, and for each prediction that comes true, a donation of £10 will be made to Mollie's Fund (a local charity). Like any good list, some of the predictions will be enlightening, others interesting, and the rest, hopefully funny. If you notice that any of these predictions....

02/11/2010 The Agency Worker Regulations (2010) Cost Calculator

02/11/2010

With the introduction of the Agency Worker Regulations next year, businesses will potentially face a dramatic rise in labour costs. This rise will be due to agency workers receiving equal treatment with regards to pay, holidays and working conditions once they have completed a 12 week qualifying period. Planning for the implementation (which is scheduled for October 2011) will be paramount in determining the actual costs and designing solutions to mitigate the effect. Will you be ready and what will be the best action plan for you? To calculate the AWR cost impact on your business we....

19/10/2010 The Equality Act 2010 in a nutshell

19/10/2010

The new Equality Act, the biggest change to the equality legislation landscape since the seventies, has been described as a legal minefield which may result in a rush of claims. The Equality Act 2010 came into effect on the 1st of October 2010, and it combines 9 separate pieces of ‘equality and discrimination' legislation into one simpler and more effective law. The costs of implementing this legislative beast, given the economic times we live in, are staggering. The Equality Act Impact Assessment Group estimates that implementation costs will touch the £283 million ceiling. Perhaps....

19/10/2010 Flex Finance Director on REC's Industrial Executive Committee

19/10/2010

Flex Recruitment are pleased to announce that our Finance Director, Jim Berry, has been appointed to the Industrial Executive Committee of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) which represents the Recruitment Industry.

Jim Berry will be the voice of Flex Recruitment on the committee bringing nearly twenty years of hands on experience to the group. He will be helping to shape the future policy of the REC in terms of Industrial Recruitment alongside fellow industry professionals like Sally Hewick (Right4Staff) who is the Chair, Mike Cooper (Best Connection),....

19/10/2010 Does Dress Sense Matter?

19/10/2010

First, we were treated to a leadership soap opera, courtesy of the Labour Party. We know who got the job there. Now, the latest instalment of the TV series ‘The Apprentice' is on our tellies again. The brief to those vying for the post is simple: negotiate successfully, what can only be described as an interview from hell, and you will land the post. And by the way, the post comes with an investment banker's salary. On your marks...

There is no running away from the competitiveness of the job market. Being current and knowing what package to bring to an interview always....

19/10/2010 Lift off for Flex Online

19/10/2010

I just love it when a plan comes together, particularly when it's taken two years to come to fruition. "What is he on about", you might ask? I'm referring to our new online recruitment toolkit which has been extremely well received in the last few weeks. The feedback from customers has been awesome once they have seen what's inside the box of tricks we have designed.
Most people have been impressed by the simplicity and efficiency of the multi-job posting tool which allows users to upload and advertise a vacancy to nearly 7 million job seekers in just a few minutes. They are....

10/09/2010 Savvy Guide to Online Recruitment

10/09/2010

Next time you are recruiting online, don’t get short changed. A lot (and I mean a lot) is now possible. If there is one statement that accurately reflects the impact of the internet on the collective psyche, it is this:

You now can...(You fill in the blanks)

There was a time (before internet) when:

We couldn't...(Again,....

10/09/2010 Excessive and Irresponsible Wages

10/09/2010

The words "excessive" and "irresponsible" have become synonymous with bankers' salaries in the ‘hundreds of thousands' bracket. Surely it must seem outrageous to use the same words to describe raising the national minimum wage to (wait for it) £5.93 per hour. Of course, if you are on £5.80 an hour you will outraged by the "excessive" and "irresponsible" salary label.

It must be pointed out that if anyone needs a raise, it's the people on national minimum....

10/09/2010 20 Years on: Interview with Adrian Hobbs, MD of FlexPlus

10/09/2010

Q: You have been in business (recruitment) for 20 years, and you are still going strong - congratulations. First of all, are you doing anything to celebrate this momentous occasion?

Adrian: On a personal level, I am having a few friends come over for dinner and drinks. Nothing formal. One of my other passions in life is cooking, so I may serve up one of my specials. Maybe we will have a cake and bubbly in our head office. I would also like to say a big thank you to our clients who have contributed in no small part to our success over the years.

Q: Are....

10/09/2010 iPad Winner Announcement

10/09/2010

Flex would like to thank all those who entered the I-pad survey competition. We had an overwhelming response and we only wish we had more I-Pads to give out. We conducted the draw on Friday, 3 September 2010. We are pleased to announce that the winner of the competition is Graham Wood from Tesco. Congratulations Graham!

Graham Wood (left) receiving his iPad from Adrian Hobbs....

10/09/2010 Short Online Recruitment Video

10/09/2010

We are aware that a lot of our clients are considering online recruitment. We have therefore put together a short introductory video to aid understanding of the many dynamics of online recruitment. If you think other professionals in your circle many benefit from watching this video, please do not hesitate to forward them the link to view the demo here.

14/07/2010 A FlexPlus Survey Job Growth in the Private Sector

14/07/2010

To magnify the obvious, the hammer-blow of public sector cuts delivered by Chancellor Osborne late last month spells really bad news for public sector jobs. Some HR ‘gurus' are predicting public sector job losses in the hundreds of thousands by as early as 2012. It is this ‘doom and gloom' backdrop which makes our survey results compelling news.

Early results from our i-pad survey show encouraging signs that the private sector is a degree more optimistic about job creation than the public sector. This optimism, if realised....

14/07/2010 Money Sickness Syndrome

14/07/2010

Hypothetical scenario: An employee walks into your office wearing a serious face and says, "I think I am suffering from ‘Money Sickness Syndrome'. I need help".

Would your answer be:
a. "Money Sickness Syndrome? Are you havin' a laugh?"
b. "That's not even a real disease"
c. Bursting into uncontrollable laughter and motioning the employee out of your office as you try to hold back tears.
d. Recommending a money management course.

If your answer was a, b or c then read on; this article has been put together for you. If your answer was d, well done,....

14/07/2010 Technology will keep you in the game

14/07/2010

For many years now I have religiously preached the message that "technology will keep you in the game". After watching the England v Germany world cup game, most unbelievers would have come to the same conclusion. The staunchest supporters of the ‘pure (without technology) game', led by Sepp Blatter himself, have come round to mumbling something about having a "debate on goal-line technology".

My message, however, has never been "technology is all you need". Consider the Business Link website that ate up £105 million in three years – that's a staggering £35 million per year. If....

14/07/2010 i-Pad competition update

14/07/2010

Attention all! Great news, our competition giving you the chance to win the new i-pad Touch has now been extended! This gives those of you who have not entered a golden opportunity to do so!

The i-Pad touch is the ultimate tool for any professional on the go, offering an abundance of applications that will have you well equipped for any situation from the board room to keeping you busy on a boring commute! So what are you waiting for? enter now!

The competition now ends on the 3rd September 2010; the winner of....

02/06/2010 We voted in Green!

02/06/2010

After thirty something years in business, I have discovered that a company's brand is an intangible element of the company that the public nevertheless develops a feel for, you may have already noticed our new green FlexPlus logo above. We have been working on it for some months now and it is ready to take pride of place on our new website which effectively goes live today for the business....

02/06/2010 How will you achieve more with less people

02/06/2010

Most companies trading in the UK will have felt the effects of the recession to varying degrees, especially those that have lost colleagues and have had to simply reabsorb the resulting workload excess. The new question being posed today is "How will your business, especially in light of budgetary and manpower cutbacks recuperate lost business and satisfy the inevitable increase in demand?

online recruitment becoming the preferred alternative method of advertising vacancies. All this change just as Britain begins to fully embrace the digital age; with high speed broadband on the way and social networks changing forever the way we engage and communicate. Placing an advert in a newspaper in order to fill a position....

01/06/2009 Recruitment to become more complicated

01/06/2009

Employers will need to be more flexible in the job market of the future, according to a report.

As the battle for good candidates becomes more intense, employers will need to look at tailoring the job to the candidate and often offer "something other than standard shift patterns". The opinions come in a report called Recruitment in 2019, published by Jobsite. It says that employers will need to abandon any attempts at a once size-fits-all approach to recruitment.

The reports predictions are based on the views of a panel of experts, including recruitment media and....

22/05/2009 Workforce flexibility saved jobs

22/05/2009

Our last newsletter to you was in October last year, just as the recession became official and the reality of a declining economy was starting to be seen, with a rising unemployment count and rapid layoffs for hundreds of temporary workers at BMW, and a broad range of large organisations throughout the UK. This ability to shed labour costs rapidly has undoubtedly helped businesses reduce their employment costs without the need to resort to lengthy and time consuming consultation periods and costly redundancies. For many companies large proportions of their workforces were saved due to....

22/05/2009 Plus means more

22/05/2009

Like many businesses the credit crunch affected cashflow and credit finance, and the recruitment industry has been no exception with many of our competitors collapsing due to a rapid decline for temps in the last quarter.

Following 6 months of investigation and discussions with various banks and financiers, Flex secured new banking facilities and refinancing and have consequently restructured the business now known as Flex Recruitment Plus Ltd or "FlexPlus " for short.

This means that we can continue our expansion plans and roll out the whole range of services and....

22/05/2009 Be careful what you wish for!

22/05/2009

Placing a job vacancy could in future cause business disruption due to the sheer volume of applicants searching for too few jobs. Recently Twycross Zoo advertised 150 temporary seasonal jobs and 3000 people turned up on the day causing traffic chaos in the local area!

In other parts of the country there are 30 applicants per vacancy and rising. Compared to just 3 years ago this is in direct contrast for employers who were complaining they couldn't find staff.

The last time we saw this phenomena was in the mid nineties and companies just could not cope with the flood....

22/05/2009 Social networking and all that funky stuff!

22/05/2009

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn are all the rage at the moment but what can they do for your business is the serious question? We're tempted to think that it's just a passing fad - but when people like the Pentagon start using it alongside the American armed forces you have to be more than curious.

My personal view is that it is another communication channel able to reach many diverse groupings of people, many of them born into the virtual age - more familiar with a keyboard than a pen. These channels allow you to place as much business information into them and direct them at your....

22/05/2009 Stress levels are soaring because of the recession, a new report has suggested.

22/05/2009

Workplace stress is on the rise

It warned millions of working days are being lost to stress as it has an effect on overall staff productivity and impacts on personal lives.

Londoners face the biggest problem with nine out of 10 people registering an increase in work-related pressures, it said.

In contrast, people in the North of England were showing the least signs of strain in the study of 2,000 people.

The research also warned of an increased risk of workplace accidents. One in five of those questioned warned they were more likely to....

17/09/2008 Free advertising for your business vacancies

17/09/2008

Flex is offering all recipients of this newsletter the facility to advertise their internal vacancies via http://www.flexrecruitment.co.uk/ untilᙦAugust 2009.

Flex have decided to provide this free offer to help companies reduce their advertising costs during this “awkward” period and to trial the effectiveness of the internet vs. traditional methods. A significant investment has been made by Flex to reach local jobseekers and match them with prospective employers. The key here is the “local” aspect and the big job....

17/09/2008 FlexPlus launched

17/09/2008

Flex has recently launched Flexplus to help businesses develop cost reduction strategies and implement them in the face of the “credit crunch.” “We have acquired massive expertise at Flex, gained from 18 years of working with leading UK PLC’s implementing temporary and permanent recruitment programmes and developing systems that deliver tangible results and people to their businesses.

Most company’s survival strategies will involve their people and we can bring our broad expertise to the table for the benefit of everyone. The initial response by many businesses is....

17/09/2008 The Immigration, Asylum & Nationality Act 2006 Compliance “live” seminars

17/09/2008

Flex Recruitment has announced the dates for its Compliance Seminars designed to assist business owners and senior managers understand what the law requires and how to ensure your business does not employ illegal workers. A guest speaker from the Border and Immigration Authority will also be there to provide information to employers.

Flex has itself processed over 10,000 applications and has developed methods and systems over the last 3 years to ensure that they fully comply for themselves and of course for their customers prior to sending them on assignment. The government....

17/09/2008 Strong leadership and flexibility are vital to survive recession…

17/09/2008

According to business development firm SFL, strong leadership displayed by business owners could prove to be key in making the difference between success and failure in the current tough economic climate affecting the UK.

It is absolutely essential that managers keep their staff engaged and motivated at all times and drive the performance of their company in order to navigate the financial downturn and stay a float.Furthermore, managers need to identify and focus on their strongest assets and be very flexible in order to adapt to the constantly changing market conditions.....

17/09/2008 "Big" doesn't mean job security

17/09/2008

Employees no longer think large corporate companies will give them job security, a new survey has revealed. The survey, from peer-to-peer website Workology.com and research company Populus, showed that 53% of adults no longer trust large corporates to afford them the job security they require, while three in five adults view self-employment as a way of controlling how they work and 42% of web users anticipate they will exploit the internet more for ‘work-related reasons’.

Sam Gyimah, founder of Workology.com, said: “We are in a transitional age where trust in the workplace....

01/08/2008 Local Immigration Teams To Be Introduced Across UK A Press Release from: UK Government / Home Office (UK)

01/08/2008

New Local Immigration Teams are being introduced across the UK, alongside Local Crime Partnerships with police, as part of a major refocus of the work of the UK Border Agency (UKBA), Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced today.

Around 7,500 UKBA officers and staff up and down the UK will be reorganised into 70-80 Local Immigration Teams and given a clear mission to focus on local immigration crime.

The Government's plans, set out in 'Enforcing the Deal' published today, set a clear focus for the UKBA's work in Britain to target the removal from the UK of the....

25/06/2008 Britain retains flexibility over working hours

25/06/2008

During a meeting held in Luxemburg on Monday 9th June, EU ministers agreed that Britain can retain its opt out of the 1993 Working Time Directive which limits the maximum working week to 48 hours, unless employees want to work longer. On this matter the government's business secretary, John Hutton, said: "Flexibility has been critical to our ability to create an extra 3 million jobs over the past decade. This flexibility has been preserved by making sure that workers can carry on choosing their working hours."

According to a recent study in fact, there are currently 3.3....

25/06/2008 Thank you goes a long way with many employees

25/06/2008

New research carried out by GfK NOP, a leading market research organisation, has revealed that non-monetary incentives greatly improve overall staff retention. The research, in fact, has found that the number of employees thinking of leaving their job within a year is substantially higher among employees that receive no form of non-monetary incentives (44%) than employees that receive non-monetary incentives (25%).

On the whole, employees highly value and positively respond to development opportunities, receiving non-monetary incentives and being thanked by their manager.....

25/06/2008 Temps proving to be the most flexible recruitment solution

25/06/2008

According to a recent survey carried out by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), more and more employers are planning to boost the number of temporary workers in their organisation within the next six months.

This survey has revealed that 84% of the respondents are planning to take on more temporary workers instead of permanent workers due to the current economic uncertainty. Kevin Green, Chief Executive at REC, said: "The credit crunch is continuing to slow permanent job growth, however employers still need to recruit. This is why an increasing number of....

25/06/2008 Flexible working now needed due to soaring fuel bills

25/06/2008

Employers throughout the country are being urged to be more flexible towards their employees, in an attempt to alleviate the financial burden of the cost of travelling to and from work. With the average price of diesel currently set at around £1.30 a litre, it isn't surprising that many workers who own cars are evaluating the financial cost and implication of their daily commute to work.

Croner, the organisation which is part of the Wolters Kluwer group and that provides reliable support for legal compliance and best practice in a number of business areas, is encouraging....

28/05/2008 No flexibility for dodgy employers

28/05/2008

There has been a substantial increase in the number of employers being prosecuted due to the hiring of illegal immigrants. Since the end of February, when new legislation has come into force, 137 businesses have been caught hiring illegal workers. This is ten times the number of employers prosecuted in 2007 and more than double the number in the previous ten years.

Employers currently face fines up to £10,000 for every illegal worker they hire and, in worst cases, can also face a jail sentence. Liam Byrne, Immigration Minister commented: “There are many dodgy employers who try....

28/05/2008 New code of practice set to give more flexibility and autonomy to firms

28/05/2008

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, also known as ACAS, has recently released a new code of practice on discipline and grievance procedures for public consultation.

This new code aims to encourage businesses and individuals to resolve disputes internally and, ultimately, save money and time. Minister for Employment Relations, Pat McFadden, said: “The new code represents a fundamental element in the government’s plans to reorganize and simplify the dispute resolution system to the benefit of employers and employees. It will also remove statutory measures by....

28/05/2008 Less flexibility for British employers and more fairness for agency workers

28/05/2008

The government has recently agreed a deal between unions and employers that will give agency workers in the UK the same employment rights as permanent staff after 12 weeks employment. Under this proposal, agency workers will get equal pay and holiday entitlement after 12 weeks in a job but will not benefit from sick pay or pension payments, and will have to work the same length of time as full-time workers in order to be eligible for paid maternity leave.

This proposal, however, relies on a Europe-wide agreement on workers’ rights and only once Brussels approves this directive....

28/05/2008 No flexibility when it comes to health!

28/05/2008

A recent research has revealed that some computer keyboards have more harmful bacteria than a toilet seat. Some of the keyboards swabbed for the research were regarded as a potential health hazard, as they we carrying bacteria that can cause food poisoning, such as E.coli and staphylococcus aureus.

According to microbiologist Dr Peter Wilson, keyboards very often reflect what is in people’s noses and guts and are sometimes filthier than a lavatory seat. If somebody in an office has a cold or worse, gastroenteritis, everybody else in the office is very likely to get ill as well....

04/04/2008 No flexibility on employing illegal migrants

04/04/2008

From 29th February 2008 anyone knowingly employing illegal migrants will be subject to tougher penalties including, in most severe cases, unlimited fines and prison sentences. Companies that unknowingly recruit illegal migrants will face penalties of up to £10,000 for each illegal worker.

It’s every employer’s responsibility to ensure that the migrant workers being employed are eligible to work in the UK. Checking the documents of prospective workers before hiring them provides employers with a “statutory excuse” which could save them from having to pay a civil penalty.....

04/04/2008 Will equal rights for temporary workers reduce your business flexibility?

04/04/2008

Labour MP’s managed to gain enough support to get a second reading for the Temporary and Agency Workers Bill which could give temporary workers the same rights as permanent staff. Gordon Brown is instead proposing a commission of inquiry to look at the whole issue of agency workers’ rights.

Currently over one million people are employed on a temporary basis, which means that they don’t get benefits such as sick pay. It is evident that there is an overwhelming need for new legislations with regards to work rights for agency workers. However, many people such as industry....

04/04/2008 Will rise of minimum wage give people more flexibility?

04/04/2008

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced that in October 2008 the national minimum wage will rise by 3.8% from £5.52 to £5.73 an hour.

Over one million people are expected to benefit from this increase, two-thirds of whom are women. The national minimum wage - according to the Business Secretary John Hutton – represents one of the most important rights for workers. It protects the lowest-paid workers from exploitation and creates a level playing field for business which boosts the economy.

The government is also determined to stop all employers who are still....

27/04/2007 Match of the day! Flex V's DHL

27/04/2007

It was a Match of the Day to remember in Flex Recruitment’s history at the Alan Higgs Centre in Coventry.

The expanding recruitment company organised a friendly game between permanent and temporary workers based at the DHL Exel Supply Chain in Rowley Road, Baginton, Coventry. And bragging rights went to the permanent staff following their 4-0 victory.

Andy Sheehy netted in between two goals from operations manager Pete Allen before a great solo strike from Leigh Timms completed the scoring. Flex Recruitment’s temporary worker’s team salvaged some pride when keeper....

23/04/2007 Flex Girls Swap Pounds for Pounds in Race for Life

23/04/2007

Staff at a leading Midlands recruitment consultancy are hoping to shed the pounds while raising plenty of pounds for charity. Six kind-hearted women from Flex Recruitment’s head office in Wheatfield Way, Hinckley, are now in training for the Cancer Research UK Race for Life in June.

They decided to take part in the 5km run to get fit but are now planning a series of charity events throughout the year. Commercial manager Dawn Lawson said: “We are quite a new team here with a few members of staff joining us in January, so we felt this would be a good way of getting to know each....

16/04/2007 Horace Retires

16/04/2007

A Hinckley man who has proved you are never too old to learn new tricks has retired from a leading Midlands recruitment company.

Horace Laffar, 66, joined Flex Recruitment in Coventry Road, Hinckley, nearly three years ago – and he has flown the flag to promote the benefits of taking on older employees. “I started work at Sketchley Laboratories in 1957 when the textile industry was booming,” said Horace, who lives with his wife, June, in Hinckley.

“I later became part owner and director of the former Long Eaton Textile Services until we sold the company and I was made....

10/04/2007 Former England junior medallist John O'Reilly Joins the Flex Team

10/04/2007

Former England junior medallist John O’Reilly will be able to leap over any hurdles which come his way after joining a leading Midlands recruitment company.

Flex Recruitment’s newly appointed business development manager for on-site managed services gained a silver medal in the 400 metre hurdles when he represented England Under-17s in the European Junior Championships in Vienna.

John, who now runs and cycles in dualthons and finished third in the 42-plus age category in Edinburgh last year, is looking forward to the challenges ahead from his starting blocks at Flex....

28/03/2007 Double Promotion, Double Bonus

28/03/2007

Two rising stars at a Hinckley company have received a double bonus of a promotion and an award for their hard work. Mark Hobbs and Lesley Gregory have been with Flex Recruitment since the company was set up four years ago.

The company has a head office in Wheatfield Way, Hinckley, and recruitment centres in Coventry, Nuneaton, Rugby and Leicester. It supplies temporary and permanent workers in the Midlands and recently announced a £6 million payroll figure following a rapid rise in flexible workforce requirements in the region.

Mark has been promoted to business....

10/03/2007 Raising money for Mollie

10/03/2007

Kind-hearted shoppers, firefighters and businesses have been involved in a fundraising drive to raise money for a four-year-old Hinckley girl with learning difficulties to be assessed at a special institute in Somerset.

Mollie Abbott was born with global development delay which means her skills are delayed and she doesn’t walk or talk. The four-year-old will make her first visit to the British Institute for Brain Injured Children (BIBIC) next month for an assessment to aid her progress after the £1,000 target was reached.

Staff at Flex Recruitment in Wheatfield Way,....