Companies across Europe and the UK are changing the way they engage with temporary workers. While political uncertainty has brought on challenges and changes in contingent labour hiring practices, low unemployment rates as well as skills shortages and increasing competition have also contributed to a shift in engaging with temporary workers in the region.

In the UK, the third-largest staffing market in the world, unemployment is at its lowest levels since the 1970s and the impact of Brexit has seen companies face increased difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff.

Despite the political climate, UK employers expect demand for temporary agency workers to continue to rise in the next year, according to data from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation.

In the same REC data, half of UK employers of temporary agency workers highlighted that these workers are important for their organisation to help manage uncertainty.

As a result, staffing agencies are employing methods to engage temporary workers that go beyond just pay.

Feedback and Assistance

The use of methods and programmes such as surveys and employment assistance programmes is catching on. Tom Hadley, REC director of policy and campaigns, says more employers are conducting surveys of their temporary staff, reflecting a level of attention to their temp workers that shows they care enough to take feedback.

Employers are also using employer assistance programmes to help manage temporary workers, Hadley says. For example, a hospitality staffing agency that assigns chefs to high-pressure environments might offer an assistance programme to help address any problems that would arise.

Such efforts are especially helpful in healthcare staffing. “Agency nurses coming into hospitals and wards are not getting any real induction and are left to fend for themselves”, Hadley says, adding that one healthcare staffing firm provides a practical toolkit that helps hospitals manage their agency nurses better, which is in the interest of the workers and patients.

Hadley adds that worker recognition and access to more facilities are two other methods that staffing firms are using to keep their temp workers engaged. However, more could be done, he says, noting that staffing firms are putting a big focus on employer branding in the recruitment process for traditional workers, and that this should be mirrored for temp workers.

Among EU countries, staffing firms have also been using temp worker engagement programmes.

Personal Attention

For example, Randstad Germany uses the “Randstad App” to help it stand out from the pack. The app is a “central hub, where employees can access the required tools such as absence requests, payslips and time sheets easily”, says Ingrid Pouw, director of global communications.

The app provides several corporate benefits, as well as perks such as a discounted gym pass and personalised education training.

Pouw also points to a different temporary employment engagement programme — currently in use in Belgium and being rolled out globally — called the “Customer Delight” programme.

Randstad says it has identified key drivers of temp worker satisfaction which allowed them to create a programme that emphasizes the “human factor” and offers what the company says is key to the workers feeling engaged: giving them personal attention every step of the recruitment process, from the application process to the end of the temporary assignment.

Pouw added that the Customer Delight programme has led to increased satisfaction among temp workers.

In the Netherlands, Randstad highlighted two education programmes that focus on expanding learning for young temp workers: One is called “Traineeship at Yacht”, and one for teachers is called “Top Class Education”. The main goals of these programmes are increasing involvement and engagement of temp workers and preparing temp workers for their next jobs, within or outside of Randstad.

While the world of work continues to change in the UK and Europe, it is crucial that staffing ‑ rms explore different avenues and evolve within different economic and political climates in order to keep their temporary workers engaged. z\