With a Parliamentary private members bill seeking to give agency workers the same employment rights as permanent employees due for its second reading tomorrow (Friday), and possible agreement on the stalled EU Temporary Agency Workers Directive on the horizon, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development today publishes the findings of a CIPD/KPMG survey of employer opinion on increased rights for agency workers and the likely impact of the proposed EU Directive.

The survey of more than 1500 employers – conducted as part of the quarterly CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook, which monitors the state of the UK jobs market – finds employers divided on the principle of equal rights for temporary agency workers and how long agency workers should have to work for an employer before qualifying for the same rights as workers on permanent contracts.

More than 1 in 4 employers (27%) responding to the survey are of the opinion that agency workers should never qualify for the same rights as permanent employees.

But 1 in 5 (21%) think that agency workers should be given the same ‘pay and contract of employment’ conditions from the first day of employment with a given employer. In all 1 in 3 (35%) think this should apply within the first six months of employment. while a further third prefer a qualifying period of at least six months.

However, the survey findings also suggest that increased rights for agency workers could mean fewer jobs in the economy overall and block an important pathway into work for many jobless people.

Almost half (47%) of responding employers think the Agency Workers Directive would make the process of hiring agency temps more bureaucratic while 61% think it will increase labour costs.

Well over a third of employers (37%) think the Directive would have a negative impact on their organisation with 2 in 5 (39%) saying it would have an effect on recruitment. Of the latter more than two thirds report that they would hire fewer agency temps though one third expect that as a consequence they would hire more workers on permanent contracts. Overall 29% of responding employers think that increased employment rights for agency workers would make it less likely that agency temps would be hired as a means of selecting recruits for permanent positions. 

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