A new age in seasonal labour solutions

2006 has seen some large changes for Fruitful LTD. Two new members of staff have been taken on to drive Fruitful Ltd forward and establish it as a market leader in the supply of seasonal and permanent labour.

Through its new connections Fruitful Ltd is now in a position to offer a complete seasonal harvester recruitment service. This will be done through the companies’ new division, Agri Prospect.

Agri Prospect, was the brain child of Justin Emery, originally from New Zealand; in 1998 he started working in the UK. Beginning as a harvest worker he was promoted to harvest manager in 2000. For four year he managed in the region of 500 Eastern European workers, until he decided he could run his own business supplying quality labour for seasonal positions.

Supporting Justin on the seasonal harvest work and also in charge of developing the catering and hospitality side of fruitful is Michelle Hartley. Michelle has had 10 years experience in recruitment, working for the international recruitment agency, Randstad, where she was a branch manager for 5 years supplying over 120 staff on a weekly basis to a major client.

With this new team Fruitful LTD can offer a full and professional service to any employer looking to fill either a seasonal or permanent position.

Seasonal harvest workers: At present we source our seasonal harvest workers though an established network of agents in Eastern European, Fruitful representatives also frequently visit our primary agent in Poland. The majority of labour currently comes from Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania and Latvia. Unlike many agencies, before any candidate is identified as suitable for a position through Fruitful / Agri Prospect (we recruit on a farm by farm basis) they must undergo a 4 stage recruitment process.  This ensures that we find the right type of workers and that the candidates are fully aware of where they will be working and the conditions. In respect of this each worker signs an agreement specifically based on the farm, confirming they understand the specific offer (including wages, accommodation and working conditions etc).

The Harvester Worker Scheme from Agri Prospect offers the following:

• Guaranteed arrival date in the UK
• Full criminal record check.
• Employment and education history compiled
• Medical history including immunization.
• Full personal and contact details recorded.
• Complete farm information packs (translated and signed by workers.)
• Full support network for both client and worker with the support of a welfare  officer in the UK.
• Advice on the legal requirements to be met by clients.
• A prompt and professional response to any problems experienced by either client or  worker.
• Monitoring wages to ensure correct legislation is adhered to.

We ensure that out workers do not pay huge fees to agents in their home country by having in place an agreement which limits the agency fee to £60/head.

Currently there is no registration fee for employers to the service; employers are charged a flat fee per head, this is a fee agreed between the employer and Fruitful. For seasonal harvest workers the fee is currently £20/head. If an employer confirms placements and the cancels them an admin fee will be charges, however this will not exceed 50% of the agreement placement fee.

For seasonal skilled positions the fee is arranged on a job-by-job basis, for positions such as tractor drivers, FLT drivers, QCs, Field Supervisors the fee ranges between £75 - £150 per head.

April 2006