How to Evaluate your Recruitment & Labour Hire Suppliers?

At HLH Group we encourage all our clients to review their recruitment and labour hire suppliers on a regular basis. Working with a recruitment company can be quite an additional cost for any business so it’s important to ensure that you are getting the best value for money. Value in the permanent recruitment world is not just down to physical cost and can vary massively depending on the recruitment company you have engaged. We have put together a guide to help you review your recruitment and labour hire suppliers whether you use them on a PSA, PSL or a contingent basis.

Guide to Reviewing Recruiters and Labour Hire Suppliers

Reviewing recruitment companies on your preferred suppliers list involves a thorough evaluation process to ensure they meet your organization’s standards and requirements. Here’s a step-by-step guide to reviewing and assessing recruitment companies:

1. 1. Define Evaluation Criteria: Determine the criteria you’ll use to evaluate recruitment companies. This might include factors such as experience, industry expertise, reputation, candidate quality, cost-effectiveness, customer service, and responsiveness. Create an internal evaluation scorecard and rate companies accordingly.
   2. Collect Data: Gather information about each recruitment company on your preferred suppliers list. This could include their track record, client testimonials, case studies, industry certifications, awards, company reviews on (Google, Glassdoor etc.) and any complaints or negative feedback.
   3. Performance Metrics: Set specific performance metrics to measure each recruitment company against. For example, you might track metrics like time-to-fill, candidate retention rates, diversity of candidates sourced, and client satisfaction scores. Your recruitment company should be able to help you collate this data.
   4. Interview Stakeholders: Talk to relevant stakeholders within your organization who have interacted with each recruitment company. This might include HR personnel, Site supervisors and Project Managers who have engaged with the company. Gather feedback on their experiences, including strengths and areas for improvement.
   5. Assess Candidate Quality: Evaluate the quality of candidates sourced by each recruitment company. Consider factors such as skills match, cultural fit, retention rates, and feedback from hiring managers. The same applies for casual labour hire employees – make sure you are getting candidates who represent your brand in the best light people.

6. Review Contracts and Agreements: Examine the terms of your contracts or agreements with each recruitment company. Ensure they are adhering to agreed-upon service levels, pricing structures, and any other contractual obligations.
7. Compare Costs and Value: Assess the cost-effectiveness of each recruitment company relative to the value they provide at every stage in the recruitment lifecycle. Consider factors such as fees, time saved, quality of hires, and overall return on investment (ROI). Don’t be afraid to ask your recruitment and labour hire company how they source and evaluate candidates. Do they have a process in place, or do they just wing it?
8. Check Compliance and Ethical Standards: Ensure that each recruitment company adheres to legal and ethical standards in their practices. This includes compliance with anti-discrimination laws, data privacy regulations, and industry codes of conduct. In the NSW construction industry, there are a lot of regulatory and legal obligations placed on companies these range from ensuring all workers are covered by Workers’ Compensation, Public Liability, statutory payments such as superannuation, payroll tax are all required.
9. What Health and Safety Processes are in place: Whilst safety is a shared responsibility for all stakeholders, within the labour hire industry the primary duty of care is between the labour hire agency and host employer. This means when reviewing a labour hire company as a potential supplier safety should be a number one consideration. You should evaluate what sort of WHS procedures they have in place. How?
   • Request Certificate of Currency for WC and PL insurance.
   • Confirm what induction and registration process they have in place. Do they cover safety?
   • Ask them how often they visit their workers on site to ensure safety.
   • What PPE do they supply to staff if any?
   • Do they employ any full-time health and safety staff?
   • What procedures do they have in place in the event of an accident or injury?
   • Do they keep detailed and easy to access records of Qualifications, High Risk Work licences, White Cards and even drivers’ licences?

10. Seek Feedback from Candidates: Consider gathering feedback from candidates who have been placed by each recruitment company. Their experiences can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the recruitment process and the professionalism of the firm. This is as equally important for labour hire staff as more positive they view the LH company they are working on behalf of the happier they will be when working on hire with you.
11. Review Performance Regularly: Regularly review and reassess the performance of recruitment companies on your preferred suppliers list. This ensures that they continue to meet your organization’s evolving needs and standards. Most companies review their labour hire and recruitment providers on a project by project or annual basis to ensure they get the best value for money.
12. Provide Constructive Feedback: Offer constructive feedback to recruitment companies based on your evaluations. This can help them improve their services and strengthen their partnership with your organization. Reputable labour hire and recruitment companies will be checking in for feedback on all aspects a regular basis. If they don’t maybe it’s time to question how much they really care about your business?
13. Make Informed Decisions: Based on your evaluations, make informed decisions about whether to retain, replace, or add recruitment companies to your preferred suppliers list.

Reviewing Recruitment Companies

By following these steps, you can conduct thorough reviews of recruitment companies on your preferred suppliers list and ensure that they align with your organization’s goals and standards.

If you’re looking for further advice on how to evaluate your labour hire or recruitment providers, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with HLH Group.

Leading Labour Hire Suppliers and Recruiters in Sydney

We always keen to express our interest in working with the biggest and the best as well boutique and niche companies so feel free to get in touch if you are considering a new supplier for labour hire and construction recruitment services in Sydney.