25 March 2021
The World Employment Confederation, which represents the staffing industry globally, released guidance this week on applying Covid-19 health and safety protocols to workers assigned by staffing firms. It calls for equal treatment between them and a client company’s directly employed workers.
“The private employment services industry plays a key role in mitigating the effect of the Covid-19 crisis throughout the world,” according to the guidelines. “In many countries, workers assigned by agency work companies have been and still are at the front line, providing essential work, for example, in the healthcare sector, in food retail and in logistics.”
In the guidance, the WEC said staffing firm workers must receive the same level of care and safety that direct employees of the client company receive.
In addition, Covid tests should be made available to temporary workers from staffing firms when such tests are made available to a client company’s workforce.
Vaccines should also be made available to temporary agency workers when they are made available to a client company’s workforce. However, WEC members will not enforce a mandatory vaccination policy.
The WEC also supports the use of contract tracing, but no staffing firm worker should be obliged to use contact tracing measures.
It also called for healthcare companies and elder care facilities to apply the same safety measures to staffing firm workers as their directly hired workers.
The full guidance can be found online.
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