as this might seem like a dumb question but I don’t know so bear with me.
In light of all the bad press about agencies I’m guessing it doesn’t cost them anything to have someone on their books if that person isn’t working.
Now why don’t companies get some people on their books and have them as short notice standby drivers. The sort they could ring and ask if available ‘tomorrow’. The person that is on the standby list would be registered with the company but only paid for when they work. A person could be registered with 9-10 companies and work for the one that rings them first. As you will be on their books but only work when required it would cut out the agencies and people would not be messed about.
The company would save money as they wouldn’t be paying for inflated rates on the agencies and the driver would have a feeling of ‘belonging’ to a company. Obviously there would be times during busy periods that you wouldn’t be able to get one of your standby drivers to come in but then as an emergency measure you could use an agency.
Would there be any legal problems with this? Why don’t more companies use this system or is it just not worth the hassle?
as they will be working on an Ad-hoc basis would they qualify for redundancy and pension or sick pay? (as they dont get paid when they are not working im presuming they wouldnt get sick pay or redundancy should the brown and smelly hit the spinning thing)
The phrase you are looking for is a ‘BANK’ driver.
It would mean the TM possibly making lots of phone calls to get a driver whereas only one call is needed to an agency - time saving.
The agency then has the headache of making all the calls to find one.
Bank staff do not have the same rights as the usual staff as they are as you say AD-HOC.
I know a little bit about this because the Mrs used to have staff on bank.
this my not be the same but when i worked for a removals company the porters with with the company as and when but were guaranteed 16 hours per week just the drivers were full time there could be called in any day to do the job,i think it is call casual staff
and also Driver Hire were i am hire the own full time drivers and you do just about any driving job there have got
ROG:
The phrase you are looking for is a ‘BANK’ driver.
It would mean the TM possibly making lots of phone calls to get a driver whereas only one call is needed to an agency - time saving.
The agency then has the headache of making all the calls to find one.
Bank staff do not have the same rights as the usual staff as they are as you say AD-HOC.
I know a little bit about this because the Mrs used to have staff on bank.
i understand the problem of all the phonecalls (time and money) but if you could set up a system where they let you know either way on a monday or what ever (phonecall or email) then i guess it wouldnt be that hard would it? or even if you got one of the office staff or a driver that is sat there waiting for a load or otherwise doing nothing to make the calls. it would save a small fortune over a year wouldnt it.
i know of one company that has stopped using agencies by taking on 2 drivers on this basis (the muffin company i used to work for) and apparently they are saving in excess of £90,000 a year, just on agency costs alone. as they used to have 2 drivers everyday, they have cut the amount of runs down (now put 2 drops on the artic instead of just one) and they must be well happy with it. if it could work for this company why not others,
plus it might get a few more people in work. especially this time of year. how many times have you gone to bed feeling fine and woken up with the worst known case of man flu and woud not have been fit to drive and had to ring in sick? it leaves the company in the kak as they have a load waiting for a driver. where as if you have a bank of drivers a quick phonecall and 1 hour later you have a driver walking in the yard ready to go. instead of ringing the ageny, they take an hour to ring round thier drivers then it takes an hour for the driver to get in…
It is possible to have employees on a zero hours contract, which is probably similar to to Rog’s ‘bank’ staff. Then when there is work they can be called upon to do as many hours as neccessary.
I’m fairly certain that if they are on zero hours then they don’t have the same (or any) employment rights of an hours person.
However like Rog says if a firm requires a driver it is far easier to just make one phone call to an agency, rather than possibly several to individuals. Human nature would also suggest that if they rang ‘person A’ a few time and he/she wasn’t available, they would stop ringing them.
I think it is a good idea and had thought about contacting several companies myself, but in my case I am available so infrequently, I didn’t think it would be of any use to a firm.
Smart Mart:
I think it is a good idea and had thought about contacting several companies myself, but in my case I am available so infrequently, I didn’t think it would be of any use to a firm.
would it not be worth just going to see them and mentioning you are only available on such and such days, “i will let you know when i am available and if you do get work then all well and good.” so to speak
when it picks up i think i might get in touch with some and test the water. see what they say. im guessing there is very little point in doing it now with motors stood still and all that. might even be wortth getting some business cards printed so they can throw it away (more probable) or keep by thier PC and ring when needed. you never know what might happen
I don’t think companies will instigate thie ‘bank’ idea but there is nothing to stop an individual contacting many companies and saying that they are available at short notice and on what days etc.
I’m sure most TMs would keep their number handy - probably with the list of agency numbers listed on their PC.