Treated like dirt? No not me. Ive been treated very well on the agency for the last 5 years. The reason Im agency is that I was sick of being treated like muck by employers. Ive found firms I go into very polite and respectful. I like agency work. The only thing I would say to anyone doing agency work is, be careful. If you were working for one of the big companies and you have a bad day....drop a ballick in some way, then its suspension on full pay, call in the union guy, have a few meetings, end off with a verbal warning and on yer way. The guy on agency doesnt get a second chance…youre out. So watch it. Also, people who slag off agencies are usually in a cushy position in a cushy job. I do hope they remember what they said when they get made redundant, because the first thing they do is sign up to an agency when they realise theres nowt else out there.
There are good and bad agencies.
If you’re planning on leaving one of the dodgier ones don’t tell them you’re leaving. Book your holiday instead, and get paid for it.
Then call them after you’ve been paid and tell them that you’re not available or that the job just fell in your lap that day. Remember that you owe them nothing, they don’t hesitate to overbook drivers and cancel work at a moments notice, right?
They’ll know you’re lying, but so what? They lie all the time, but doing it that way avoids getting the money you’re owed misery. I have tried to go down the business like route with some of these scumbags, and I’ve heard it all. Try this one: ‘It’s illegal for us to pay you after you’ve left’
OTOH, if they’ve treated you well, then pay them the courtesy of a bit of notice, pop in to say thanks etc.
Pat Hasler:
Agencies are the curse of the industry, they use and abuse drivers every day by exploiting them to the full. Agencies charge the companies then contract to huge amounts per hour but pay pittance wages to the drivers with hardly any security or benefits, the bosses of agencies sit back and rake in huge profits form the poor souls the send off to work, they should be illegal.
Tell your hubby to become a freelance driver, get some cards printed and send them to every transport company etc in the area, fix a rate of at least 12 pounds an hour (which is a lot less that the thieving agency will charge them), sit back and wait. You will get some company eventually and then word gets round.
DON’T JOIN ANY AGENCY.
With all due respect, that is absolute rubbish! There are simply too many agencies for any single agency to charge huge amounts. Profit margins for agencies are very low because competition is great (amongst the agencies) due to lack of work. Having worked for an agency as a Consultant, I can assure you that the profit margin isn’t as huge as you’re trying to make out!
Agencies used to be great, I was on more pay than the employed drivers, overtime after 8 hrs, holiday pay
But it’s all changed now, u are forced to be self employed if you want to work, pay static for last 5 years, and they say even the agency aren’t making much money
skell790:
There are good and bad agencies.If you’re planning on leaving one of the dodgier ones don’t tell them you’re leaving. Book your holiday instead, and get paid for it.
Then call them after you’ve been paid and tell them that you’re not available or that the job just fell in your lap that day. Remember that you owe them nothing, they don’t hesitate to overbook drivers and cancel work at a moments notice, right?They’ll know you’re lying, but so what? They lie all the time, but doing it that way avoids getting the money you’re owed misery. I have tried to go down the business like route with some of these scumbags, and I’ve heard it all. Try this one: ‘It’s illegal for us to pay you after you’ve left’
OTOH, if they’ve treated you well, then pay them the courtesy of a bit of notice, pop in to say thanks etc.
There’s a clear conflict of interest there isn’t there?
Their definition of “You’ve left” is when they decide they don’t want to pay you anymore.
Your definition is when you don’t actually intend working there anymore.
Sounds like the same day, but it rarely is, because nearly everyone works at least a week in hand, meaning that your wages for the last week plus any outstanding holiday pay is likely to be “held back” by the dodgier firms as an incentive to “just to put in that one more shift for us as a favour”. You’d think they’d set up a cushy number to try and change your mind about leaving, but no. It’ll be something with a liability that then uses your two weeks behind to “keep you hanging on” pretty much forever… Oh, and then they don’t supply the P45 in time for your new job when you ask, causing trouble at wages there, as there is a suspicion that you are double-driving!
padsmrs:
lumpygreenpoo:
Going slightly off topic… My Dad reckons there would be no need for agencies if the DWP got it’s act together! The Jobcentre’s have a huge database of people ‘available’ for work… Why not utilise this resource to reduce unemployment and earn revenue? The Jobcentre would charge a competitive rate for labour and pay it’s workforce whatever benefits they’re entitled to. An unemployed person would have to take whatever work the Jobcentre offered to keep their benefits. If that person failed to fulfil their obligation to the Jobcentre they’d lose their benefits. I wonder how quickly unemployment would fall as a result?Might also help with those that just apply for jobs knowing full well they don’t have the skills to do just so they can keep their job seekers allowance!
A BAD idea.
If that happened, you’d struggle to get a full time job because they’d just contact the jobcentre as and when required, you’d still be working 5 days a week for 60 odd quid a week and be unable to get out of it due to nobody recruiting fulltime.
If you could pay £9 / hr to the jobcentre and get someone in, but at quiet periods you don’t pay, holidays not a prob, no employers NI etc etc… Would you recruit someone, even at £8 / hr, if you then had the rest of the responsibilities??
What would happen, is people would get themselves banned deliberately
I remember around 1990 before I’d got my licence, there was this guy who’d been allocated to our depot (Queensway Building) for work because he’d been on the chat too long.
From the moment he got in, he mouthed off to the managers, and I understand that later on he’d actually assaulted the big boss upstairs in his own office! 
All this was in aid of “getting banned from site” because he just DIDN’T want the job, much preferring instead to live on the chat.
After this attack on the top guy, he was suspended and removed from the premises on the spot.
It took 6 WEEKS for the dismissal to come through, during which time he was on full basic pay!
I’ve never heard of before or since such a large part of someone’s postal career being made up of 100% gardening duty effectively from day one AND as a punishment to boot!
Now fast-forward to today, and I understand that this is common employment law practice on the continent, but has it all but dried up over here or not? 
There’s a clear conflict of interest there isn’t there?
Their definition of “You’ve left” is when they decide they don’t want to pay you anymore.
Your definition is when you don’t actually intend working there anymore.
Sounds like the same day, but it rarely is, because nearly everyone works at least a week in hand, meaning that your wages for the last week plus any outstanding holiday pay is likely to be “held back” by the dodgier firms as an incentive to “just to put in that one more shift for us as a favour”.
I should have made it clearer. What you do is start your new job while they think you’re on holiday.
Does anyone take their agency holiday pay in the same week they don’t otherwise get any pay from the agency?
Needless paying of tax & no expenses offset?
Best to do a single long shift involving a commute in a week, then tag all the outstanding holiday pay on the end of it.
This means doing one last shift to do YOURSELF a favour! 
Winseer:
I remember around 1990 before I’d got my licence, there was this guy who’d been allocated to our depot (Queensway Building) for work because he’d been on the chat too long.From the moment he got in, he mouthed off to the managers, and I understand that later on he’d actually assaulted the big boss upstairs in his own office!
All this was in aid of “getting banned from site” because he just DIDN’T want the job, much preferring instead to live on the chat.
After this attack on the top guy, he was suspended and removed from the premises on the spot.
It took 6 WEEKS for the dismissal to come through, during which time he was on full basic pay!
I’ve never heard of before or since such a large part of someone’s postal career being made up of 100% gardening duty effectively from day one AND as a punishment to boot!Now fast-forward to today, and I understand that this is common employment law practice on the continent, but has it all but dried up over here or not?
On the chat. Never heard that expression before, out of all the slang for that situation it’s a new one on me. I quite like it actually, it’s kind of descriptive! 
After this attack on the top guy, he was suspended and removed from the premises on the spot.
It took 6 WEEKS for the dismissal to come through, during which time he was on full basic pay!
I’ve never heard of before or since such a large part of someone’s postal career being made up of 100% gardening duty effectively from day one AND as a punishment to boot!
Now fast-forward to today, and I understand that this is common employment law practice on the continent, but has it all but dried up over here or not?
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I’d like to think if I was dealing with something like this they’d be summarily dismissed within 10 working days!!! Then they’d have to wait several weeks to claim from the state!
triple-tango:
I hate agencys with a passion.
I had some postcards made by Vistaprint which said “Class 1 driver available, part time / full time etc” & spent a few days driving round all the haulage firms etc. I got a few casual part time runs & then a job offer. Try it…
It would be nice if in this country you could just turn up, and get on the payroll just like that.
Larger firms have real trouble moving their feet of clay though.
You could hypothetically approach a firm currently paying £11 for ten pound notes, and offer to supply them for £9, and they’d still take weeks and weeks umming and ahhing before taking the plunge.