THE growing economy has brought a surge in the number of temporary jobs and one recruitment agency is expanding its team of experts to cope. Payroll specialist Rachel Rees-Jones has joined employment and training provider eResponse Recruitment as payroll co-ordinator to help support rising numbers of new workers the firm is placing into businesses across Worcestershire.

Ms Rees-Jones, aged 29, who is working towards her Association of Accounting Technicians qualification, has also been brought in to oversee the new workplace pension auto-enrolment scheme on behalf of the firm’s clients who now have to automatically enrol staff. This applies to anyone aged between 22 and the state pension age, earning more than £10,000 a year.

The recruitment firm, which has five branches across the region, including offices in Worcester, Kidderminster and Redditch, helps more than 6,000 people find work and gain new qualifications every year. It specialises in a range of trades including office work, contact centre staff, warehousing, logistics and security. Dave Alekna, payroll and finance manager at eResponse, said: “Rachel is a strong addition to our already experienced team and I’m delighted to have her on board. There are now 50 of us helping 6,000 people across the region but our own team has to grow because the number of clients we are supporting is also rising as more and more people take on new temporary jobs which are rapidly becoming available. The new auto-enrolment for workplace pensions has also brought a big change to how people are paid, with more putting something towards their retirement. So an important element of Rachel’s role will be to support our clients with their workplace pension schemes, making sure everyone gets the right wages they’ve worked hard for, on time.”

To help improve its service to businesses and their temporary workers, Mr Alekna said that eResponse has established a new payroll system, using the latest industry software, which allows eResponse to email workers two days before pay day with their salary details so any queries can be processed and dealt with quickly.

“Bringing in Rachel, introducing new systems and doing things differently is all about going over and above for our clients. We want to make it as easy as possible for them to take on temporary workers.” He added.