Agency or relief work

hrj2922

I’m looking for flexible part time work as I’m a student. Want to work more in holidays. Been offered two jobs, one with an agency for support worker/care jobs, one with a company as a ‘relief’ support worker - the company have various locations with supported living/residential homes for people with learning disabilities and a day centre.

Agency pays more, but I have to pay for some of my own training, possibly there will be more work with them?
Other company, I worked for full time 2 yrs ago, get paid for all the training, and I’ll only be working for one company so not loads of different care homes etc. Have assured me they will have hours, I know from working there some relief staff were there basically full time. But who knows?

Any advice, I’ve never worked for an agency so I don’t know if it will be ok, and don’t know which to choose?

I considered taking on both (see other thread from me) but the agency provide work for the company and I don’t think they would be happy with me working for both...

Comms69

hrj2922 wrote: »

I’m looking for flexible part time work as I’m a student. Want to work more in holidays. Been offered two jobs, one with an agency for support worker/care jobs, one with a company as a ‘relief’ support worker - the company have various locations with supported living/residential homes for people with learning disabilities and a day centre.

Agency pays more, but I have to pay for some of my own training, possibly there will be more work with them?
Other company, I worked for full time 2 yrs ago, get paid for all the training, and I’ll only be working for one company so not loads of different care homes etc. Have assured me they will have hours, I know from working there some relief staff were there basically full time. But who knows?

Any advice, I’ve never worked for an agency so I don’t know if it will be ok, and don’t know which to choose?

I considered taking on both (see other thread from me) but the agency provide work for the company and I don’t think they would be happy with me working for both...

I doubt they'd care to be honest.

dawyldthing

Agency might say they’ve ‘recruited you to go there’.

I’ve worked alongside agency staff in the past and I think they do get the work, but it’s work the full timers don’t want. So your evenings/ weekends/ bank holidays. Plus it’s a bit rubbish paying for your training. I bet dbs will be the same so could be quite an outlay which takes a while to get back.

The other thing is is the agency might say they have work, but it’s not guaranteed. Whereas the relief post they know your reliable so might put the work your way. Prob will be the same shifts as the agency to be fair. Plus when your off will be when annual leave kicks in (summer holidays every one wants time off) so could help both ways.

We had a uni student on the books for the last 2 years and it helped no end when it came to covering the holidays etc

jonnygee2

Agency pays more, but I have to pay for some of my own training, possibly there will be more work with them?
Other company, I worked for full time 2 yrs ago, get paid for all the training, and I’ll only be working for one company so not loads of different care homes etc. Have assured me they will have hours, I know from working there some relief staff were there basically full time.

Generally, better the devil you know.

The question is - is the pay gap worth the additional risk? Answer -

- Small pay gap - just go with the company you know are okay and don't pay for training upfront
- Medium pay gap - maybe do a bit more digging on the agency, see if you can find if they are likely to be decent
- Large pay gap take the risk, fall back on the other company if it doesn't pay off.

elsien

Sometimes it's about building up the relationships as well.
When I had a good relief member of staff who I knew wanted the hours, if I was short staffed I'd sometimes do the rota around the shifts they could manage. Or if they were happy to work weekends I'd book them in advance to give the regular staff the time off. That's down to the company and how they work but I'm not sure an agency would work like that, they tend to be shorter notice. We were only allowed to use an agency when all else had failed, including offering double rate to our usual staff.
Any other costs you need to consider for the agency - umbrella company or anything like that?
Client groups - will the agency cover all the client groups, older people etc, and how do you feel about that? I'd struggle to work in a care home for older people or people with dementia, it's just not my thing. Much preferred the learning disability places.

dawyldthing

Plus you can be all over with the agency and I don’t think they got the costs covered. One once travelled must have been 30 miles on trains and buses to do the shift. They can be anywhere and everywhere. You can turn them down, but it depends how the agency works