Is there more or less agency work at the moment? Or no change?

GDL.

In my experience, much less work

Many drivers being made redundant, so running to agency for scraps
Drivers on Furlough are running to agency for extra work

Regular agency drivers who choose to work on agency anyway

There isn’t enough to go around and the work there is, gets watered down between too many drivers.

This coming Christmas season and February-March 2021 will be interesting to see what happens.

Having recently come back to agency work 3 weeks ago from furlough I’m back in at the same site, so can’t tell if there’s a change generally in agency work, my work is still a little sketchy week 1- 3 days work, week 2 - 5 days, week 3 (now) 4 days inc sudden shift time changes + cancelled tomorrow & back Friday) but that down to the new parity pay, a new TM on site trying to mark his territory & justify the cost of using agency drivers, there’s only 4 of us. I do expect it to settle down and be the 4-5 days that I get

I’ve never had a shift dropped through out covid , w/end o/time rates have gone up ( how much I don’t know as I won’t work them ) , a £200 bonus was offered if you recommend a driver which has now gone upto £300, and there’s now a £25,000 bonus to be shared between the drivers who have no sick time off , no holidays off & do 3 extra shift ( though I’d guess even if there is anyone stupid enough not to have a holiday there cut of the £25,000 will most likely be a tenner )
So yes there’s agency work out there but wether it’s what you want I’ve no idea

There’s also apparently , email
A performance competition where 2 drivers can win upto £5,000
Microlise performance
Attitude
Presentation, uniform
Are the 3 things being monitored, I’d guess again a tenner or no-one knows either of the winners
I was asked about these competitions & suggested they pay you holiday pay & not deduct 12 % of your normal wages to pay your holiday pay would maybe get me to do a bit more , but seemed to fall on deaf ear
Anyway I’m going a bit off track so I’ll leave the others to answer the op question

Hyh:
In my experience, much less work

Many drivers being made redundant, so running to agency for scraps
Drivers on Furlough are running to agency for extra work

Regular agency drivers who choose to work on agency anyway

There isn’t enough to go around and the work there is, gets watered down between too many drivers.

This coming Christmas season and February-March 2021 will be interesting to see what happens.

Indeed. Sunak has just offered employers who’ve laid people off this year £1000 to take them back on later this year, at least until January NEXT year.

That means I guess that there will be loads of agency work come December for one month only, with everyone being thrown under the bus in the new year.

January 2021 then - will be VERY telling as to where the real jobs are then at - won’t it?

To quote from the linked page:

" But companies could pocket a £1000 bonus if they bring a furloughed worker back and keep them employed until January. "

The carrot earlier this year of giving people work, where the firm only has to fund 20% of that person’s original average pay over the past 12 months, was clearly far too much for the average stingy employer to partake of - BUT if there’s a “Grab a Grand” competition now, where you only have to pretend to be someone’s friend from any point later this year UNTIL January 2nd 2021 - then I guess this Christmas might be the very last hurrah of our outgoing economy, with agency work dropping dead like never before come next year.

Too many drivers chasing too little work - might just about work for December, but in the new year? - FIrms will argue that they need to cut rates to £3.50ph as we saw exposed this week in the Boohoo example…

There will be some drivers who’d take that, of course - and they, in due course, would get the little January 2021 work that remains in this dried-up watering hole of an agency economy.

If Carlesberg brewed Beer, then Leicester would be THE town in the country where best to start a new agency start-up - wouldn’t it?

dozy:
There’s also apparently , email
A performance competition where 2 drivers can win upto £5,000
Microlise performance
Attitude
Presentation, uniform
Are the 3 things being monitored, I’d guess again a tenner or no-one knows either of the winners
I was asked about these competitions & suggested they pay you holiday pay & not deduct 12 % of your normal wages to pay your holiday pay would maybe get me to do a bit more , but seemed to fall on deaf ear
Anyway I’m going a bit off track so I’ll leave the others to answer the op question

Getting consistent “A 1.00” scores on Microlise - didn’t save me.
attitude? I didn’t even get snotty with people when I was let go, mainly because I I didn’t know for 10 days that I had been let go. Confontation Avoidance there perhaps?
When I was at Brakes, there was this guy who kept getting 100% driving scores, and others lost interest, as it was always the same bloke winning the inducement prize.
Strangely, I never got to find out what job that driver actually did as a full timer, let alone got to meet them in the 3 years I was full time there. A cynic like me might suggest the system is indeed wide open to outright abuse, as arguments could be made for there being a “Paper Driver” to mop up all the bonuses, so no money ever has to be forked out for promised “Schemes”…

I suggest that the more complicated BS that gets put in front of the employed driver, are just another and extra sets of reasons to get rid of you when such things go wrong, but never ever result in you getting preferential treatment, let alone higher wages when things go RIGHT.

Judge a job by the duties you’re given, and the rate you get for them.

If you then get left alone by management for months on end, then that would be considered the very highest kind of “success” - wouldn’t it?

Drivers these days - are expected to be piotr and paula perfects, just for the huge reward that holding down a full time job entails, these days.

If you think about it though, IF hourly rates are to collapse everywhere, then the compromise that some drivers might want to consider - is working less hours, and hence not compounding the loss.

I’ve spoken in the past of this concept “Paying to go to work”… If you’re spending say, £10-£15 per day commuting to your job, and that job then only pays £50 gross per shift… Then the LAST thing you want to also be doing is THAT job for six days per week, meaning you pay the normal deductions of around a third from it…

£50 less £16 tax and insurance less another £10-15 in costs, plus another £4 for eats…

Leaves you about a score to live on per day.

If there’s no other choice, just get away from the 50-84hours per week culture, and use the opportunity to get yourself back to some 35-40 hour routine, which of course means 3-4 shifts per week IF you’re paying out a lot to commute as it stands.

If you can’t earn more - “lose less” is the advice. That smaller wage also means you’ll likely drop out of tax outright, just as Sunak is eyeing up even the moderate earners for a big tax whammy that’ll no doubt be with us later this tax year, I would have thought…

I maybe wrong but I took microlise performance as being able to use it , they had a list of 30 + drivers who couldn’t manage to use it ( or maybe they didn’t want to ) ,or weren’t inputing trailers , start / finish job etc
, I had a txt which I guess went
To everyone saying if you didn’t start using the microlise you’d be taken off of fte,
As for uniform they issued me with 3 free polo shirts , and I’m not paying for anything , I’ve got loads of unworn uniform from over the years
Attitude , depends what day it is

£25 k , I’m having my holidays , if I’m sick I’m sick ( normally when I’ve had enough ) , 3 extra shifts , 70 hrs apx & 4 nights out is more than enough, ZB to I want a 5 th night in a lay-by ( though it does happen ) & 13 hrs rolling in my door at 8/9 / 10 pm on a sat night

• it’s all a load of ■■■■■■■■ , some might be gullible enough to go for it , but I won’t

Winseer:
Getting consistent “A 1.00” scores on Microlise - didn’t save me.
attitude?

Yep. No amount of perfect Microlise scores can save someone who bleats on like an Arthur Scargill speech writer and treats the company management like it’s still the 1970s and the unions still running the shop from talking themselves out of their job.

dozy:
I’ve never had a shift dropped through out covid , w/end o/time rates have gone up ( how much I don’t know as I won’t work them ) , a £200 bonus was offered if you recommend a driver which has now gone upto £300, and there’s now a £25,000 bonus to be shared between the drivers who have no sick time off , no holidays off & do 3 extra shift ( though I’d guess even if there is anyone stupid enough not to have a holiday there cut of the £25,000 will most likely be a tenner )
With a week to go before the end of the qualifying period, someone sticks a thermometer in your mouth as “no sickie bod”, tells you that you’ve got a temperature of 100, which is “feverish”, and sends you home, telling you to self-isolate for a week. Bang goes your bonus, with “acting manager” with the thermometer only needing to briskly rub said thermometer, or do a sid james, and dip it in his cup of tea…

“If it can be micromanaged out of existance, you’ll never get that bonus as a result!”

So yes there’s agency work out there but wether it’s what you want I’ve no idea

I don’t get how this “recommend a driver for a bonus payment” works?

IF there are plenty of fish in the sea at all times, then surely for a firm to be desperate enough to offer financial incentives over untested talent, then shouldn’t they be fully employing as agencies every single driver on their books FIRST?

We’re constantly told that agencies like to have 100 drivers on their books for every 10 full weeks of work, eg. 5x10 hour shifts per week multiplied by an anticipated 10 drivers covering… That would mean that 90% of drivers “on the books” are not going to be used on any day per client. If you’ve got 10+ clients - then that’s FINE of course. But if you’ve got 1-5 clients? - You’re gonna be sitting on the substitute bench, ready to pick up someone else’s dropped shift - and that’s about it.

Conor:

Winseer:
Getting consistent “A 1.00” scores on Microlise - didn’t save me.
attitude?

Yep. No amount of perfect Microlise scores can save someone who bleats on like an Arthur Scargill speech writer and treats the company management like it’s still the 1970s and the unions still running the shop from talking themselves out of their job.

Get it right… I didn’t even speak to management, until they decided to speak to me.
I don’t soapbox at work. Didn’t before, don’t now.

Dropped through the floor this week, tues 4.30- 11.30 ( East Kilbride - Wakefield ) , today ( wed 4.30 - apx 13.00 , wakfield - Warrington - crick ) , thurs 4.30 & last drop 11 am , 4.30 fri & work picks right up & just scrape back at 19.30 fri , hopefully ,
Or maybe it’s the wtd , and there trying to bring hours down , though not heard it mentioned for years

WTD? …Your a Stobart limper ffs they’ll just use you and abuse you until they decide don’t need you

peirre:
WTD? …Your a Stobart limper ffs they’ll just use you and abuse you until they decide don’t need you

No I’m fte actually ( thought you’d know better after all your years on agency) , I’m guaranteed shifts , which is why I’ve never missed a shift , covid or not
)

Planned 15 for first 3 days this week so back to normal by the look of things , at least I’ll not have the worry of a 15 left on a Friday , getting
Txt after txt asking for extra shifts so loads of work out there

Started to see the first high viz of my outgoing firm this week… All older than I.

I’ve not seen any younger lads 25-40 driving agency since April.

I wonder what’s going to happen on the run-up to Christmas this year, with instead of 100 drivers chasing 5 shifts - 1000 drivers chasing 2-3 shifts!!

Winseer:
Started to see the first high viz of my outgoing firm this week… All older than I.

I’ve not seen any younger lads 25-40 driving agency since April.

I wonder what’s going to happen on the run-up to Christmas this year, with instead of 100 drivers chasing 5 shifts - 1000 drivers chasing 2-3 shifts!!

See mostly young lads doing agency , foreigners, as for 1,000,s chasing shifts , not where I’m sat as every day you get txts asking for extra shifts to be worked

dozy:

Winseer:
Started to see the first high viz of my outgoing firm this week… All older than I.

I’ve not seen any younger lads 25-40 driving agency since April.

I wonder what’s going to happen on the run-up to Christmas this year, with instead of 100 drivers chasing 5 shifts - 1000 drivers chasing 2-3 shifts!!

See mostly young lads doing agency , foreigners, as for 1,000,s chasing shifts , not where I’m sat as every day you get txts asking for extra shifts to be worked

I kept getting asked to do unpaid assessments all the time, and when I enquired what the actual work and shift availability was… Turns out there’s just the odd early doors shift, or stupid O’clock at night…

Who wants 2 04:00 starts per week, or 3 23:00 starts that have you coming back to base in the morning rush hour, nodding dog…?

Why won’t firms just freaking give out some decent shifts like 18:00-21:00 starts on nights, 12:00-15:00 on lates, and 06:00-09:00 starts for “earlies”…? It doesn’t cost them any more to give you the same hours starting at THOSE times, but the stuff that is available these days - 22:00-00:00 starts for nights and 02:00-04:00 for “earlies”, and 17:00-17:45 for “lates” (keeping you off the night rate there…)

Maybe there isn’t a shortage of “mugs” anymore that will do an odd couple of these, and then get phoned every day until they say “no”, at which point the phone stops ringing…

Why to they do it? - Run drivers ragged??

I do 6 am starts most of the time which is good on a Sunday as I don’t need to go upto bed until 9 pm , but Friday that often means I don’t get back to yard until 9 pm & by the time I’ve unloaded my stuff , booked off in office & done the 1 1/4 hours home it can be 11 pm
So I’d prefer a earlier start , 4 am , but then not keen on going to bed at 7 pm Sunday night
I must get a more local job as I went home in the week last week as won’t stay at depot as they won’t pay night out , and with traffic it took me 1 1/2 hrs to get home , then 1 1/4 to get back in morn
Not much about though , should of stuck it out at curry’s
Not easy winseer to get what you want

dozy:
I do 6 am starts most of the time which is good on a Sunday as I don’t need to go upto bed until 9 pm , but Friday that often means I don’t get back to yard until 9 pm & by the time I’ve unloaded my stuff , booked off in office & done the 1 1/4 hours home it can be 11 pm
So I’d prefer a earlier start , 4 am , but then not keen on going to bed at 7 pm Sunday night
I must get a more local job as I went home in the week last week as won’t stay at depot as they won’t pay night out , and with traffic it took me 1 1/2 hrs to get home , then 1 1/4 to get back in morn
Not much about though , should of stuck it out at curry’s
Not easy winseer to get what you want

"If you don’t ask, you’ll never find out if you can get though.

It is always worth trying to write your own ticket, make some suggestions at job interview of the sort of practices that you’d grab with both hands in exchange for some family-friendly hours, let’s say.

Eg. You might offer to work any weekend at the drop of a hat when not on actual holiday - if you can have a contracted start time arrangement that doesn’t vary either side by more than two hours. Eg. All start times are between 06:00 and 10:00 if you fancy day work, NO 02:00-04:00 early doors rubbish, nor having to work nights later in the week, so you risk running into saturday morning “no overtime paid”…

For instance, I don’t mind doing 12-15 hour shifts at a moment’s notice - in exchange for not being expected to work 5-6 shifts in a week, ongoingly…
My ideal working week would actually be 4x12 hour shifts per week. 48 hours per week is enough of a full time set of hours for anyone, after all. Saves money on commuting to, if you’re doing 2/3rds of the commutes that a six-day driver has to do… Something you really feel if you’re driving the proverbial 45minutes to an hour to get to work each shift…
Get this 15+15+15+13+13+13 written OUT of your contract at the start - or that’s what you’ll be saddled with not long after you’ve got your feet under the table with all-too-many firms these days…

The last time I was offered a 5-6 shift contract, I had inserted “maximum shift 10 hours”, as I’m not prepared to do the longer 11-15 hour shifts AND work more than four shifts… What’s more useful to a firm? Flexibility over a shift or flexibility over a working week? One can’t be expected to provide both to an employer, and for a “Salary” at that. It isn’t safe, it isn’t profitable to the worker, nor good for their long term health - let alone good for bringing up a family…!