By David McCormack, CEO, HIVE360
Looking after the welfare of the business and its workers is not only beneficial for performance and profitability, it is a legal requirement in a growing number of sectors like the fresh produce, food packing and processing industries that are governed by employment standards regulated by the Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority. Recruitment agency outsourced PAYE payroll, wellbeing and benefits provider, HIVE360, is a GLAA license holder.
The Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), is a Non-Departmental Public Body of the UK Government, and a national enforcement agency whose role is to protect workers from labour exploitation.
The GLAA began in April 2006 after the horrific deaths of Chinese cockleshell pickers in Morecambe Bay. Since then, it has regulated businesses providing workers to the fresh produce supply chain and horticulture industry, to ensure they meet the exacting employment standards required by law. It investigates reports of unlicensed trading, worker exploitation, illegal labour provision, and offences under the National Minimum Wage and Employment Agencies Acts.
Despite the incredible work of the GLAA, its latest figures are concerning – the number of potential victims of exploitation more than doubled last year to 15,186.
This is far from okay. We believe everyone deserves the best work:life experience, to feel safe at work, and to never be exploited. These values have been the foundation for building HIVE360, and our GLAA licence is central to how we work with and support our clients, strategic partners, and labour providers, and to our own workplace policies. Currently, HIVE360 is one of around 1000 active GLAA licence holders, and we are all subject to regular compliance inspections on health and safety, accommodation, pay, transport and training standards. Non-compliance will result in the GLAA revoking the licence.
People-first
Many of the UK’s leading temporary worker recruitment agencies, operating extensively in the GLAA sector, work with HIVE360 to provide vital welfare support and transparency of pay. Earlier this year, we launched a unique strategic partnership with Rocket Software, which provides temporary workers software to around 300 temporary worker recruiters, and payroll and accounts software solutions to 60,000 key workers.
At the time, the company’s MD Danny Steel was clear about the significance of HIVE360’s GLAA license: “We have been looking for a strategic partner in the employee benefits space and found HIVE360 innovative, collaborative, progressive and creative. As a GLAA license holder with much experience in this vital sector, we felt HIVE360 a really good fit.”
An embedded employee/candidate engagement strategy that looks after payroll and people continues to take an important part in candidate retention and attraction rates.
On-the-go engagement in hand
As well as being an expert in recruitment agency PAYE outsourced payroll, HIVE360 goes further to add value to candidates’ experience, with our unique customisable engagement app Engage.
Provided as a standard element of our outsourced payroll solution, Engage gives employees and temporary workers access to a range of health and wellbeing benefits and services: 24/7, confidential access to mental health support, counsellors and GPs, a personal doctor, support helpline and care support, gym memberships, high-street, lifestyle, dining and insurance discounts, a training platform, along with a secure digital payslips portal and a real-time workplace pension dashboard to support employees’ financial wellbeing. To find out more, visit www.hive360.com.
