The introduction of Joint and Several Liability (JSL) legislation has prompted many organisations to review how they engage temporary workers.
For HR, Procurement and Finance leaders, one question is becoming increasingly important:
While recruitment agencies and umbrella companies have always played an important role in contingent workforce management, the new legislation has highlighted the importance of visibility, governance and due diligence across every stage of the recruitment process.
Whether your organisation manages a handful of agency workers or thousands across multiple sites, asking the right questions of your recruitment partners is essential.
Here are ten questions every organisation should be asking.
It sounds obvious, but many organisations don't have complete visibility of every organisation involved in their labour supply chain.
Do you know:
Understanding the full supply chain is the foundation of effective governance.
One of the biggest challenges organisations face is fragmented information. Different sites and hiring managers may use different recruitment suppliers, making it difficult to gain a complete picture of temporary labour activity.
Ask whether your recruitment partner can provide centralised reporting across all your sites, giving you a single, consolidated view of your contingent workforce, supplier performance and agency spend.
Greater visibility supports better decision-making, strengthens governance and helps identify opportunities to improve efficiency across your organisation.
Compliance shouldn't be a one-off exercise. Ask how suppliers are audited, who conducts those audits, how frequently they take place, and whether suppliers can provide evidence of a successful audit, such as a valid compliance certificate.
Regular, independent audits help identify potential issues early, promote greater transparency and support stronger governance across your recruitment supply chain.
This version flows better, removes repetition, and subtly reinforces the importance of independent audits without overstating the point.
Good workforce decisions depend on good data.
Ask what information is available, including:
Reliable reporting enables organisations to monitor performance and identify trends that may otherwise go unnoticed.
Ask your recruitment partner how suppliers are measured against agreed KPIs and service levels, how frequently performance is reviewed, and how poor performance is managed. Transparent reporting and regular performance reviews help ensure suppliers remain accountable and consistently deliver against your organisation's expectations.
I actually prefer the second version because it reinforces one of Datum's biggest strengths—supplier performance management—which is a core part of your neutral vendor managed service. It also reads much more like the practical questions a procurement or HR leader would ask.
Joint and Several Liability has increased the importance of governance throughout the labour supply chain.
Ask your recruitment partner how they help clients improve oversight, reporting and supplier management—not simply recruit workers.
The strongest partnerships go beyond filling vacancies.
Many organisations discover duplicated suppliers, inconsistent charge rates or unnecessary administrative processes when they review their temporary labour arrangements.
Independent oversight often highlights opportunities to simplify recruitment processes while improving visibility.
Managing multiple agencies individually often creates unnecessary administration.
A single point of contact can simplify communication, improve supplier coordination and provide greater consistency across recruitment activities.
Employment legislation continues to evolve.
Ask how your recruitment partner keeps clients informed and adapts recruitment processes as regulatory requirements change.
A proactive approach helps organisations remain agile without constantly redesigning their workforce strategy.
Joint and Several Liability has encouraged organisations to take a closer look at how temporary labour is managed.
While every organisation's circumstances are different, one principle applies across every sector:
You cannot effectively manage what you cannot see.
Greater visibility enables organisations to:
These are all essential elements of an effective contingent workforce strategy.
At Datum RPO, we help organisations gain greater visibility and control over temporary labour through our vendor-neutral managed service.
Rather than replacing your existing recruitment agencies, we work independently to manage your supplier network, giving you greater oversight of agency performance, workforce activity and recruitment spend.
Our services include:
By acting as an independent partner, we help organisations strengthen governance while enabling existing recruitment suppliers to perform at their best.
The legislation has increased the importance of understanding labour supply chains. Having visibility of recruitment suppliers and workforce activity enables organisations to strengthen governance, make informed decisions and help reduce the risk of being held liable for unpaid PAYE tax and National Insurance Contributions under the Joint and Several Liability rules.
Organisations should ask about supplier management, reporting, compliance audits, governance, workforce visibility and how supplier performance is monitored. These questions help build confidence in the recruitment supply chain.
A vendor-neutral managed service independently manages recruitment suppliers on behalf of an organisation. Unlike a recruitment agency, the neutral vendor does not compete to fill vacancies but focuses on supplier management, reporting, governance and workforce visibility.
For more than 20 years, Datum RPO has helped organisations simplify the management of temporary labour through its vendor-neutral managed service. By combining recruitment supply chain audits, independent compliance audits, supplier management, consolidated invoicing, management information, technology and dedicated Recruitment Support Officers, Datum gives clients greater visibility and control over their contingent workforce while enabling existing recruitment suppliers to perform more effectively.