Reed - opinions?

[Snarf]

Sorry, bit of an essay..

Ok so the situation is that I have been offered a new position, I am currently in contract but its close to ending so I'm cutting it short when I complete the current phase of the project that I am on, I had an interview with the client and we discussed the role and the companies stance on IR35 - basically no decision made yet for april but their opinion was that it is outside and the IT Manager is making that case to the legal and HR people doing the reviews - so it all sounds positive - Everything I know about the role indicates that it should be outside anyway (Based on my admittedly limited/flawed knowledge of IR35)

I found this role through a friend already working with the client so there has been no agent involvement until now.

So, I get a call from the client "We're offering you £x for three months as discussed in the interview" which I accepted on the spot. The next day I get a call from Reed saying :
The next day I get a call from Reed saying that the client asked them to handle the engagement.

I told them that I would be working through my own limited company to which the said "no we've been told all roles are inside IR35" - something that I know not to be true.
After a bit of back and forth with the client it would appear that there was some "miscommunication" and it is outside IR35 so this got sorted but no thanks to Reed.

They asked me to take ID into their office, I told them that I would find it very difficult to squeeze in physically going to their office whilst doing a 120 mile commute and working a full day for current client the week before xmas and asked if they could accept them via email.

The initially said no they could not accept emailed documents but finally gave in when I told them that it would have to wait until the new year as Monday is the only day I would be free before the new year and realistically it wasn't going to be feasible as I know how much I have on that day.

Moving on they asked for three years worth of references from previous "employers" - I have never been asked for this before so questioned it - they said it was for "compliance" and that the client had requested this - Again I know this not to be the case - when asked what I was complying with they changed the subject...

I did point out that myco has been my employer for 5 years and I'd be happy to write a reference for myself but doubted that this was sufficient to which they confirmed that they meant clients and said that I should contact previous (and current) clients HR departments - to which I pointed out that every other contract I have had has been through procurement departments as a supplier - if there was any HR involvement I was certainly never aware of it.

Then to cap it all off the portal that they gave me access to so that I could enter all of my details just errors when I enter my (valid) company details and the agent has an out of office set until the 30th.


So my questions are :

1. Is it normal for an agent to require documents to be verified face to face?
2. Is there anything with the references that could be construed as "compliance" or is the agent trying it on to harvest more info on companies that hire contractors?
3. Just generally are reed any good - am I just having a bad start up experience with them and it will smooth out as we get going or cant I expect this nonsense for the duration?
4. Is it me? Am I being awkward? - Im happy to accept that this might be the case


My internal contact said there is a chance that the client will take me direct and ditch reed, but I need to speak to someone at the client in January - is it worth holding off and doing this risking not hitting the expected start date or do I just suck it up and get it done with reed? - The rate and terms will be the same either way.



tldr; I'm having a tulipty experience signing up with reed - is this the norm and do they get any better as the contract progresses?

[edison]

In my experience, this is fairly common. I’ve noticed it’s more onerous now compared to when I first started contracting six years ago.

I think by law, your identity has to be verified along with your right to work in the UK. I’ve been asked to take originals into an agent’s offices as well as upload them online. Reed should have offices all over the country so if there is one maybe nearer your home of office, try that. Some agencies have portals to upload documents to but once I found that it wasn’t a secure site so I refused to upload a copy of my passport for example.

As for references, this is fairly common. Sure, the agency gets some names that they can try and approach to sell their services but also it’s a way of them verifying that the work you claim to have done in the past is factually correct. One agency that I worked via for a bank would only confirm the dates and role title so it wasn’t really that much use perhaps.

As for Reed as a whole, they are like a lot of the big national recruiters. Some good people but some really not very good. Probably my worst contact ever with an agency was with Reed where the agent gave me a very outdated and incorrect brief. I looked a right idiot in the interview as a result.

[eek]

As for references, this is fairly common. Sure, the agency gets some names that they can try and approach to sell their services but also it’s a way of them verifying that the work you claim to have done in the past is factually correct. One agency that I worked via for a bank would only confirm the dates and role title so it wasn’t really that much use perhaps.

Talking to my brother (an HR director) last week best practice is to provide no information beyond the absolute bare minimum.

An agent last week was talking about how to do references to which my reply was you are asking for information that I as a company would not give you in case it prejudices your decision.

As for your questions

1) Yes paperwork has to be seen in person by someone - but it could be anyone at the company it doesn't need to be that branch.
2) Dates worked matching your CV is common but just provide your agent's details for it.
regarding references - I'm happy to provide the name of the agent(s) I've worked for for the past x years anything and everything else is irrelevant.
3) they are a large agency - some people and offices may be good some people and offices may be bad

4) Reed aren't exactly helping you here but that may be the agent - it may be the company who knows.

[BlasterBates]

For references you just need to give details of the agencies you worked through. They can confirm the dates.

[wattaj]

For references you just need to give details of the agencies you worked through. They can confirm the dates.

^^ This.

[GhostofTarbera]

Agree with above

But this is just the beginning of what they want

A list as long as your arm will appear soon, right down to your high school exam results

God forbid you have more than one director as they don’t like that either


Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

[Amanensia]

1. Is it normal for an agent to require documents to be verified face to face?
Yes; this is more and more common these days due to the "right to work" compliance rules. In theory very large fines can be payable if someone ends up working illegally and they can't prove they've followed best practice procedures. It's a pain in the backside but it's common. Some places will accept something like a Skype video call.

2. Is there anything with the references that could be construed as "compliance" or is the agent trying it on to harvest more info on companies that hire contractors?
Reed are huge and many of their processes will be quite generic and geared up to permanent recruitment. Whoever you are speaking to is probably reading from a script. It's very tempting to play awkward with them but easier not to bother! My favourite one was when my passport expired midway through a job, they got in touch saying they needed to see my new one. Arrant nonsense as the right to work given by a full UK passport never expires, I told them if they wanted to see it they could make an appointment to see me. Then they asked me to post it to them and they'd return it - I replied saying no, I needed it in a couple of months and didn't trust them not to lose it. Eventually they gave in and didn't bother, after I'd sent them chapter and verse from the gov.uk website proving they didn't need it. Most amusingly, a couple of months later the same happened to a colleague - he sent them his new passport and ... yep, they lost it!

3. Just generally are reed any good - am I just having a bad start up experience with them and it will smooth out as we get going or cant I expect this nonsense for the duration?
Not really. But they're incompetent rather than evil, and better than some I've dealt with. At one client, they moved from Reed to AGS (Allegis) - AGS made Reed look like paragons of perfection...

4. Is it me? Am I being awkward? - Im happy to accept that this might be the case
A bit, perhaps! But hey...

[northernladuk]

Are you opting in or out?

[Snarf]

For references you just need to give details of the agencies you worked through. They can confirm the dates.

Ive only had one role through an agent * in the last 5 years the rest have been direct to the client, but I get what you're saying.

My opinion is that this is a bit stupid, they are not engaging me, they are contracting my company so the responsibility to determine my eligibility to work should lie with myco.

Maybe its just because I've run all of my previous contracts as "proper" B2B arrangements and this one is getting a bit more personal that its grating on me a bit.


* and they took my details via email - Yet to meet them face to face (and Ive been with the client for 18 months)

[Snarf]

Are you opting in or out?

Good question - this has as yet not come up in my contracting life so I need to look into what exactly will be affected... Might as well be prepared because Im probably going to come back here with questions.