It's business as usual at Robert Half
Life is getting back to normal at employment agency Robert Half International after glitches with a new accounting system left it unable to issue correct P45s to staff.
Problems with the new computer software, partly developed by Coopers & Lybrand, started after the system went live and managers discovered it would not work in parallel with the old system the company was phasing out.
Managing director Jeff Grout described the problems as merely ‘teething troubles’, but temps who rang Accountancy Age complained that incorrect P45s were sent out and telephone calls had gone unanswered.
Staff were forced to fill out the forms manually, and temps complained about errors creeping into their calculations.
‘I’ve tried calling the company and it said its system had screwed up and couldn’t do P45s. I’ve now had a form but it wasn’t correct,’ said one temp, who declined to be identified.
Grout said the scale of the project meant some problems were unavoidable: ‘This is the biggest investment we’ve made in an accounting system. Demand for staff is such that the old system was beginning to creak under the pressure.’
Steve Gale, systems accountant at Robert Half, added: ‘The system did not anticipate the traditional delay in issuing P45s to staff who went abroad after one assignment and needed their form on their return. In any agency system you do get a few problems from time to time, but this is often because clients fill in account details incorrectly on payment forms. A couple of people complained because they wanted P45s, but I don’t think it’s been a serious problem. We’re sorry if any temps were inconvenienced, but I think 99% of our staff understood the problem.’
One of the country’s largest agencies for temporary accountancy staff, Robert Half places between 900 and 1,000 people in organisations across the country on a typical day.
