Experiences of Working in the UK through an Employment Agency?

yorkypoleThreads: 1 Posts: 3 Joined: Nov 22, 10 ♀	Nov 22, 10, 16:55 #1
I just wondered if anybody would like to share their experiences of working for a UK employment agency...is it a positive or negative experience for somebody of Polish origin? Do you get treated well as an agency worker or do you feel as though you get exploited because you are Polish?

VarsovianThreads: 91 Posts: 568 Joined: Nov 23, 06 ♂	Nov 22, 10, 16:56 #2
You're not from Doncaster, are you?

DarrenMThreads: 2 Posts: 126 Joined: Dec 21, 07 ♂	Nov 22, 10, 17:02 #3
yorkypole: Do you feel as though you get exploited because you are Polish? It doesn't matter whether you are Polish, English, Black, White, Blue or Purple. If you are an agency worker they are hiring you out at probably double what you will be paid, and when the contract ends and there is no further work you are discarded.

yorkypoleThreads: 1 Posts: 3 Joined: Nov 22, 10 ♀	Nov 22, 10, 17:14 #4
I just wondered if anybody had any stories from their time working for an employment agency, good or bad? Did you have any problems? I was wondering if the experience of a polish person working as a temp may be different from an English person working as a temp?

terriThreads: 1 Posts: 385 Joined: May 3, 09 ♀	Nov 22, 10, 18:35 #5
If you can read POlish,m there is a website ...www.oszukany.pl where there are thousands of posts of how wonderfully English (and not only) agencies treat Polish workers.

yorkypoleThreads: 1 Posts: 3 Joined: Nov 22, 10 ♀	Nov 22, 10, 21:46 #6
Thanks Terri!

♂

Nov 22, 10, 22:14 #7

While being Welsh (i.e. not Polish or Saes) I can still answer your question.

I did temping once. Found it useful for earning a bit of money when I needed it. Was very boring work but it did for the moment.

With one place did four days of work and got paid well. In another place got paid the minimum wage (which we thankfully have in GB). I was finally offered a job there, but as I turned it down (was about to start another job a month later) I turned up at work the next day to be told that I shouldn't be there anymore.

I doubt your nationality will make any difference. Employment agencies want people to do **** jobs and they'll be happy with anyone prepared to be 'flexible', by which I don't mean work for less than the minimum wage.

For me the easiest to find and most rewarding of such work was with the Post Office, working as a sorter. The pay was relatively good and we were treated well. Knackering hours though.

Good luck!

♂

Edited by: jonni Nov 22, 10, 22:29 #8

Some agencies use 'intermediaries' (a euphemism for gangmasters), typically a Polish or Lithuanian woman working from home. These 'intermediaries' issue the payments. So when part of the payments are witheld (highly illegal), they can claim they know nothing about it. This happened to a Polish friend of mine working via an agency called Aqumen.

Other agencies are OK, but in industrial areas, the competition between agencies is so strong that large employers switch between them day by day, just to save small amounts of money. This means that the worst agencies are often able to undercut the better ones, and a week's work can end up as two or three days.

The post above rightly says that the Post Office is often the best bet.

yorkypoleThreads: 1 Posts: 3 Joined: Nov 22, 10 ♀	Nov 23, 10, 01:20 #9
Thats really useful to know thanks both of you, I had no idea that employers would switch between agencies day by day or use gangmasters!

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