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World - Employment Conference flags common challenges for global recruitment industry

20 May 2011

The annual World Employment Conference is taking place this week in Rotterdam. Initial discussions have flagged a number of major challenges for the global recruitment industry and covered specific priority areas for recruiters.
 
The Conference is the annual event of the International Confederation of Temporary Employment Agencies (CIETT), the representative body for the world-wide recruitment industry. This year's event was hosted by the national federation for the staffing industry in Holland (ABU).

Barry Asin, President of Staffing Industry Analysts, presented delegates with an insight into global trends within the industry and the future outlook. Other presenters included Jeff Joerres (Chairman and CEO, ManpowerGroup), Ben Noteboom (CEO of Randstad), Rob Zandbergen, (CEO of USG People) and Alain Dehaze (Regional Head of Northern Europe for Adecco)
 
Delegates called on governments to allow private employment agencies to contribute to the growth of national labour markets by:

• Lifting existing unjustified restrictions and effectively implementing the agency work directive in the EU

• Supporting further ratification of ILO Convention n° 181 on private employment agencies

• Taking advantage of the industry’s labour market expertise to develop and deepen cooperation between public employment services and private employment agencies

• Strengthening the involvement of private employment services in active labour market policies

• Upgrading social protection systems to cover every worker, independently of their type of contract. Rights, pension schemes, social security should be inherent to the workers, who should be able to carry them on when they change job, country, sector.

Tom Hadley, the Recruitment & Employment Confederation's (REC) Director of Policy and Professional Services, commented "this is the annual gathering of the global recruitment community. It is a great opportunity to find solutions to common challenges. So far these have included enhancing client relationships, developing cross-border activities and making the best use of new technology."
 
"Trends from the US and other markets will inform our own work and will be fed back to our members. The event has also enabled us to provide a UK perspective on issues such as enhancing professional standards, procurement and co-operating with public employment services."
 
"Initial sessions have confirmed that the industry is on the road to recovery with double-digit growth in many markets. At the same time, there is a huge political pressure on agency work in many countries and recruiters also are having to adapt to changing client needs and new supply models. This is an important time for the industry to come together and learn from each other."

The 2012 World Employment Conference will take place in London and will be hosted by the REC.