City Link-the ripple effect on recruitment agencies

The last quarter for most companies is a busy and profitable time, it's a period when resources are heavily relied upon and valued. Because of this the effects of one link in the corporate chain, taking chances or not to disclose issues within their company can mean pain to be felt by many.

This was something we all felt at the end of 2014, when City Link, announced heavy redundancies which now add up to some 5,000.

The question must be asked why on the verge of crises did they continue to take on temporary workers although the Directors (it is now known) were aware that payment for these workers was not available.

The Labour Party is now calling for a government inquiry, to understand why workers were still being requested from Recruitment Companies.

REC chief executive Kevin Green says:

  “Agency workers will not be left out of pocket for work they have done as the employment business will pay them regardless of City Link’s collapse. But that means some of our members are severely disadvantaged by a significant negative impact on their bottom lines"

Once the inquiry has determined where the errors occurred, let's hope steps will be taken to prevent this happening again. The independent recruiter would be hard pressed to survive without intervention to pay their workers when they cannot get paid themselves.  It is admirable, in this case they have paid their workers but without intervention in the future what does that mean to the recruiter?