Hello from HR

New for our blog this year we’ve got some special guest bloggers lined up who we hope will keep you interested, entertained and coming back for more. Don’t forget, this blog is just as much about you as it is about us so if there is anything you want to discuss or if you would like to post a blog yourself just let us know.

Our first guest blogger is Parasol’s very own Group Head of HR, Helen Pedder.

One of the best things about my job is that I get to speak to a lot of our employees on a regular basis and the thing that really surprises me is how many of them don’t understand why we call them our employees. The short answer is because, legally, that is exactly what they are but I thought I would use my first blog post to explain this in a bit more detail, as well as introduce you to the rest of my team.

The status of our employees comes down to the contractual relationship between themselves and Parasol and this really is in their best interest, as it not only protects them and gives them full employment rights, it also protects the agency and the end-client as well.

So how does the employment relationship work? When a contractor, freelancer or temp joins Parasol they accept a Contract of Employment, this makes Parasol their employer and therefore entitles them to all statutory employment rights and the benefits that come with that, just like any members of the team here at HQ.

Parasol will in turn sign an agreement with a client, normally a recruitment agency, for the assignments which our employees work on. This is where the confusion can come from, so just to be clear; it is Parasol that has the agreement with the recruitment agency and only Parasol. There may also be a further agreement that exists directly between the recruitment agency and the end-user.

As I mentioned earlier, as an employee of Parasol, they can enjoy all the benefits of being employed, whilst also reaping the rewards of contracting. So we call them our employees because that is exactly what they are. Another reason this is really important is because our insurance policy covers our employees for everything they do on site. So the end-user and agency are protected, which makes our employees more attractive. We take on all the risk on their behalf and they don’t have to fork out for expensive insurance cover. 

Another benefit of being our employee is that our employees can legitimately have their genuine business expenses offset against their tax liability, meaning more take home pay in their pocket.

So as you can see, being a Parasol employee is the bedrock of all the benefits that come with working via Parasol.

And yet another one of those benefits is that they have just as much access to the help and support of my team as anyone else working at HQ. We are a fully CIPD qualified HR team and we can advise on any problems they may face whilst working on assignment. We can help and guide them with issues such as disputes over pay, health and safety and AWR rights to name but a few.

I head up the team and I’m supported by our two HR Advisors, Kerry Harvey and Zoe Prendergast. We’ve also got our HR Administrator, Abbie Scott. Both myself and Kerry are fully CIPD qualified, and Zoe is studying really hard and is due to complete her qualification in November 2012.

We are there for our employees whenever they need us and to get in touch you just need to contact our Employee Support team, leave a comment on our LinkedIn group or in the comment box below. If there is anything you’d like us to cover off in future HR blogs just let me know.