Frank's Corner

When I think about the National Association of Realtors® (which won’t even let anyone use the word “realtor” without the “registered service mark” character), I think of a powerful, effective trade group that sends a clear message on the advantages of using a professional Realtor ®.  Same goes for the RIAA (Recording Artists Industry Association) which has fought fiercely to protect against pirated music and scored numerous headlines while promoting education of artists and copyright laws.

When I turn my thoughts to recruiting and staffing associations … well … I fail to come up with similar comparisons.

I want to know YOUR thoughts. I am compiling comments and need plenty of them.

 

You can comment privately or publicly. Remember we are not singling out any individual trade associations. We have many of them representing various factions of the recruiting industry, from Insurance Recruiter Associations, to the AESC (American Associations of Executive Search Consultants).

The point is, does the multi-billion dollar staffing industry have a unified voice speaking proactively on its behalf to effect legislation before it happens?

Or, are these associations merely information dissemination services telling us how we should or should not compensate recruiters after the laws have already been passed?

Case in point: I received a call from a desparate search firm owner in California. After fourty years of managing a second generation staffing firm she was thinking of packing it in and disassociating herself with her trade group (I won’t mention which one).

This is how the call went (which I believe reflects the high frustration levels of many professional staffing firm owners):

“Frank, I’m calling you because you are on the East coast and I feel its safe to speak to you. Everyone hear in Southern California knows me. I’m a member of [******] and I feel they are letting us down. There’s no lobbying in Washington D.C. against healthcare reform except for one mass email I received.

Now that Healthcare Reform is passed, I feel my $450,000.00 of temporary payroll is in jeapordy. How can I remain profitable providing temps if I must soon factor in an additional 20% for healthcare? I can’t even get clients to pay a modest markup over the current worker’s compensation costs!  I’m at my wits end. Please promise you won’t tell anyone my name but I think our industry is suffering from the lack of speaking up.”

Being a man of my word I’m not mentioning her name (I already forgot it) or the association she is so frustrated with.

For my part, I get tired when I attend conference after conference where I am lectured the following:

1. How I must pay a salary when hiring recruiters (and how much is sufficient)
2. Being told I can not subcontract under 1099 (even though the insurance industry frequently hires commission only insurance agents)
3. Being told I have to pay a minimum wage at a certain level (even though the restaurant and hospitality industry gets special dispensation from the federal department of labor)

To me, these above examples are all the result of trade association shortcomings.  Here’s an excerpt from the Federal Government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics referencing the special treatment given to restaurants and hospitality workers:

“Tipped employees are those who customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. The employer may consider tips as part of wages, but the employer must pay at least $2.13 an hour in direct wages.”

Aren’t recruiting commissions equivelant to tips if not moreso?  Why does the restaurant industry get to play under different rules? Same goes for the insurance industry which gets to hire sales reps under “one hundred percent commission” with the federal government’s wink and approval.

So why is our industry working under a different set of rules?

Do you think our trade associations should be doing more proactively?
Are you satisfied enough is already done?

Are you a member of a group? Did you change recently due to any dissatisfaction?

Might it be we have too many trade associations fracturing our industry?

PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS BY POSTING COMMENTS.

You may do so anonymous if you wish.

THANK YOU!!!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 1st, 2010 at 6:31 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.