If you are looking for a full-time driver then I can’t see how it would make any sense using one through an agency. On top of the driver’s wages the agency will be adding about £3 an hour for their overheads. From the get-go, I have been unable to see the logic in your question.
Well from a purely financial point of view, the above. TBH, I’d have to sit down and really look at it. On a week by week basis, then it has to be cheaper to pay a driver - driver costs £10.00 p.h. + employers NIC, agency wants £13.00 p.h.
Of course with an agency you don’t have to pay holidays and sick pay, though it its SSP you will be able to claim back, so it’s factoring in the cost of the holidays on top of the £10.00 ph +employers NIC. I CBA to work it out, but if you are that serious, it should only take 5 minutes for you to work it out.
However, it’s the intangibles that mean I always employ someone. Most of my lads stick around for years and usually we build up a mutual loyalty and trust and I can’t put a price on that.
that’s no disrespect to any agency drivers, but by the nature of agency industry, people come and go for the most part.
It’s not unknown for a haulier to man the fleet with agency drivers though.
I think, mc canns,formally orchone transport Immingham do this.
There can be advantages to doing things that way maybe.
If you want to sack a driver you just call the agency,and it’s not you’re problem.
burnley-si:
a good driver employed is more loyal, agency drivers are never loyal and its always in the back of your mind will they turn up for work
if your work is priced up right you should have any problems employing, the only time you might get problems is if your running at back load prices everywhere
almost 20 yrs on agency because it suited with the mrs now x and bringing up 2 kids. I was never out of work and did 11 yrs on Walkers crisp’s did everything they wanted even more than their own blokes would do and I’m now on a Blue Chip company where out of the 5 drivers I work with i’m the only one that puts unit and trailer through the wash at the end of the night everynight. Come on Si as in any industry you’ll have drivers and Drivers don’t tar everyone with the same spray gun fella.
i can only go off, what ive seen over the last 25yrs, agency drivers not turning up,then when they do turn up bring he truck back half loaded when it should be empty and saying “■■■ that its to hard”
but you have got to say nick, there is only a small % of GOOD agency drivers (like you used to be)
Am no owner driver or employer, but I have looked into this and the difference with employing a driver directly will cost you slightly more. Pay £8.50p/h plus I think 13% employer N.I, meal allowance and holiday pay then if drivers on holiday get temp cover will cost more than a freelance driver.
If you Google “cost of employing an employee” there’s a software where you input some basic info and bingo you get the results of the costs.
If you choose to employ a freelance class 1 its the best way to go and slightly cheaper than agency, as you don’t have the compulsory holiday pay and employer contributions. Am in Manchester and round here I have heard you’d be looking at around £12.00 flat rate for a S/E Ltd class 1. You’d have the look into the insurance side of it as the agencies have a driver neglect insurance which may not be obtainable by a S/E Ltd driver it covers damage to loads but not vehicle.
Been S/E Ltd on agency 2 years for same company got work week in week out, will go the extra mile for them (the company) loyalty isn’t the issue in my opinion treat the worker right and the worker should go that extra mile.
SJ: if your that worried get a newbie in train them on how you want the job done (the right way), pay a half decent wage etc build on that and as long as your a fair and straight 100% by the BOOK and non pushy boss someone will be well pleased and reliable.
burnley-si:
a good driver employed is more loyal, agency drivers are never loyal and its always in the back of your mind will they turn up for work
if your work is priced up right you should have any problems employing, the only time you might get problems is if your running at back load prices everywhere
If you want loyalty employ someone full time. Agency staff don’t get shown much loyalty from clients? Isn’t that the general idea? They pay a kings ransom but you expect to get dropped like a stone in return…
Spam-Javelin:
Some great advice there guys, thanks. Thinking about putting two guys on one unit. 4 on 4 off tramping.
Aye im sure you are.you cant work out how to pay someone and now you want to through two into the mix.i smell verbal ■■■
Please keep your trap shut mate if you have nothing constructive to add to the discussion. Nothing worse than tossers on here just trolling the forum. Go away little boy.
From reading through this thread it looks like you would be better off with the Agency option. You clearly take instant exception to anything you don’t want to hear, so retaining employed drivers may well prove difficult. The aggravation of having to continually advertise for, interview and start drivers who then only stay for a short while may well cost you more then you apparently save from the lower rate, if you take into account the income possible from the better use of your time.
Spam-Javelin:
Some great advice there guys, thanks. Thinking about putting two guys on one unit. 4 on 4 off tramping.
Aye im sure you are.you cant work out how to pay someone and now you want to through two into the mix.i smell verbal ■■■
Please keep your trap shut mate if you have nothing constructive to add to the discussion. Nothing worse than tossers on here just trolling the forum. Go away little boy.
I notice that you are, once again, struggling to comprehend the forum rules
Personal attacks i.e. calling people tossers, are covered in the rules. They are not allowed
Thanks newmercman.the op really has a problem when he doesnt hear what he likes.the reasson i commented as i did was because the op does not seem to grasp hos to employ one driver but yet he wants to employ two on a 4 on 4 off system.what if you have one on holiday and one goes sick,what if your truck is off the road and you now have two wages to pay,what if both drivers find you a annoying and leave.master walking before running
Spam-Javelin:
Some great advice there guys, thanks. Thinking about putting two guys on one unit. 4 on 4 off tramping.
Aye im sure you are.you cant work out how to pay someone and now you want to through two into the mix.i smell verbal ■■■
Please keep your trap shut mate if you have nothing constructive to add to the discussion. Nothing worse than tossers on here just trolling the forum. Go away little boy.
I notice that you are, once again, struggling to comprehend the forum rules
Personal attacks i.e. calling people tossers, are covered in the rules. They are not allowed
Spam-Javelin:
Some great advice there guys, thanks. Thinking about putting two guys on one unit. 4 on 4 off tramping.
Aye im sure you are.you cant work out how to pay someone and now you want to through two into the mix.i smell verbal ■■■
Please keep your trap shut mate if you have nothing constructive to add to the discussion. Nothing worse than tossers on here just trolling the forum. Go away little boy.
The above post must surely come under the heading of “Not Quite Self Aware”.
Your signature contains an advert for your services as an external transport manager. The first thing I was told at my management cpc was that you didn’t need to remember every single thing–but you had to know where to find the information. Nowhere did it say,start a spurious thread on an internet forum asking basic things that are pretty obvious-even to yourself,as you answer all your own questions,whilst ignoring advice from people who have actually ran trucks.
This thread is not a huge advert for your skills as an external TM,I would go as far as saying that your attitude would put me off completely.
Spam-Javelin:
I am seeking answers to a question that is slowly but surely being answered. So it is cheaper for me to employ someone full time and pay all the extras, holiday pay sick pay and all that rather than just do it via an agency.
But if you use a permanent driver through an agency then he will have rights to holiday pay, and you will be paying it. You’ll just be paying it through a third party (the agency). Where else would the driver’s holiday pay come from other than you?
As for sick pay, you’d have to pay an employed driver Statutory Sick Pay but then you claim that back anyway. Surely a CPC holder should know this?
And you’ll also be paying for the agency’s office, their staff’s wages, their electricity, water and telephone bills, their business rates, the computers, the desk and chairs blah blah blah…
I have a three vehicle O licence but only drive myself, if I ever got offered my own well-paying work on a permanent basis then I would have no hesitation in putting another another two trucks on the road and taking on drivers, but it would never in a million years suggest itself to me that I should get drivers through an agency. That’s nothing to do with whether agency drivers are any better or worse than any other unknown quantity I got if I placed a newspaper advert for drivers, it’s just that I would be paying the overheads on two businesses instead of just the one.
Spam-Javelin:
Some great advice there guys, thanks. Thinking about putting two guys on one unit. 4 on 4 off tramping.
Aye im sure you are.you cant work out how to pay someone and now you want to through two into the mix.i smell verbal ■■■
Please keep your trap shut mate if you have nothing constructive to add to the discussion. Nothing worse than tossers on here just trolling the forum. Go away little boy.
The above post must surely come under the heading of “Not Quite Self Aware”.
Your signature contains an advert for your services as an external transport manager. The first thing I was told at my management cpc was that you didn’t need to remember every single thing–but you had to know where to find the information. Nowhere did it say,start a spurious thread on an internet forum asking basic things that are pretty obvious-even to yourself,as you answer all your own questions,whilst ignoring advice from people who have actually ran trucks.
This thread is not a huge advert for your skills as an external TM,I would go as far as saying that your attitude would put me off completely.
If you read last weeks Comical Motor, you will find your question has already been answered and most companies said they would rather park their spare trucks up rather than use agencies. A couple of them said they will only take drivers from an agency if they have been through their own initiation ceremony.
Looking at it from someone that used to do agency driving in the past, many agency consultants are little more than commission driven spivs.
To an employer they will just take the first name off a list and if that person has the appropriate license, they will put them on the contract whether they have the skill set the employer is looking for, or not.
For the potential driver they will swear blind they will find you the exact work you are looking for, then ring up often weeks later with work you have no experience in, are unsure of and tell you just to blag the day/week out.
The people that employ agency drivers vary from the small company just wanting someone for a week or two where a regular driver is on holiday (which is ok), right up to the bigger companies that think just because a driver hasn’t turned up for a 3am start, it is alright for agencies to go calling people at 3.15 am in the morning to offer a solitary days work(it aint ok ).
Trouble is nowadays, many people employ agency drivers for totally the wrong reasons.
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