AIBU RE misleading job advert and recruitment process?

[elvis86]

For one reason and another I decided to look for some temp work. Applied for a fixed term 6 month role with a big company, attended an assessment day and was offered the position. In the advert and throughout the recruitment process the rate of pay was advertised as £11 per hour.

I've complied with several requests for information and provided various forms of ID etc, and have now received my contract. This confirms that I'll be employed via an agency, and that the rate of pay includes "rolled up holiday pay". Neither of these points has ever been mentioned prior to now. I've replied to the email explaining this and querying it, and they've just replied to confirm it's the case.

This just feels so underhand?! I'm just looking for temporary work, but I met people at the assessment day who were planning to leave permanent jobs to join this company.

I'm not so bothered about working via the agency, but the holiday pay issue effectively means the rate of pay is fairly significantly lower. Having googled, it seems that whilst ACAS and the government discourage employers from paying rolled up holiday pay, it's not illegal for them to do so.

Pondering what to do at present - although I'd like to tell them to stick it, I'll probably be inclined to accept as it's temporary and I can't be bothered with more applications and interviews.

Just curious as to whether anyone else has experienced this?

I'm a recruitmental Consultant and would say it is a fairly standard thing to do for fixed term contracts where you will technically be employed by the agency. If you don't want the job - don't take the job. And anyone looking to leave full time employment for a fixed term contract that in all likelihood is actually a temp contract on a weeks notice period is a bit silly.

It's quite normal for temp roles

I've never heard of rolled up holiday pay before, and a quick google says pretty definitively it's not allowed:
www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/holiday-pay-the-basics

Rolled-up holiday pay
Holiday pay should be paid for the time when annual leave is taken. An employer cannot include an amount for holiday pay in the hourly rate (known as ‘rolled-up holiday pay’). If a current contract still includes rolled-up pay, it needs to be re-negotiated.

Am I missing something?

I'm willing to accept that it's fairly standard for temp work, but surely it should have been made obvious during the recruitment process that a) successful candidates would be taken on via an agency, and b) that the basic rate of pay is actually more like £9.50 per hour?

It doesn't make sense to me, as the employer has potentially wasted their own time on assessing and interviewing candidates who may not accept an offer if, like me, they only just realised this?

And anyone looking to leave full time employment for a fixed term contract that in all likelihood is actually a temp contract on a weeks notice period is a bit silly.

I'd possibly agree, but it wasn't presented this way at all. It was presented as a 6 month fixed term contract - advertised by the company, assessment centre facilitated by the company etc. We were also told about opportunities for internal progression once you were in etc.

I'd assumed that the candidates currently working elsewhere in the sector thought it was a calculated risk, and would have taken a 6 month FTC and hoped for opportunities to progress.

I may well have been naive or ignorant about the while thing as I've not job-hunted for a while, but I'm fairly certain that others on the assessment day had the same understanding as me.

I got scammed like this by Hays recruitment. I've used quite a few recruitment agencies for work and that was the first time id come across it.

A pretty shit way of doing things, I thought!

Advertised hourly rates and paid hourly rates don't have to be the same as the final rate will be 'due to experience'. When it comes to how you will be paid your pay slip will show your worked hours at a certain rate as stated in your contract and a percentage per week of accrued holiday.

The employer will not necessarily know how the agency have advertised the rolend at that rate. I would say that if they have got this far without declaring the full ins and outs that they are confidential they can fill it and if you pull out there are other candidates.

I must say that they sound pretty high street - and this isn't something I would do.

Unfortunately, a lot of high street Recruitment companies will stretch what they can do to the limits of the law. Their consultants are under huge pressure to hit targets so will do what ever to get candidates through the door. I wouldn't say you've been scammed but if you don't accept the role you will at least be wise to look out for the red flags that all isn't as it seems.

I got scammed in a similar way by Manpower in the 1990s. They advertised loads of jobs at a meat packing factory, made me go to several interviews and staff training then asked me my start date.
I phoned up before my start date only for them to tell me there wasn't the demand and I was not to turn up. This was when they had been explicit in that they wanted me for the full 3 months with no days off other than weekends.

Turned out that some people DID get work but it was in dribs and drabs a few days here and there, all the while they were told not to book any time off.
It's shit so make sure you keep EVERYTHING in writing.