Bench.Direct began life in 2018 with a mission to connect the very best IT talent with hiring managers in the UK and beyond. The concept was initially envisaged as an opportunity to showcase the many contractors working with Bench.Direct’s sister company, Incite Insight.
In 2020 two things happened which dramatically increased the appeal of this concept. Phase two of the IR35 reforms seemed likely to start in the April of this year and promised to ravage the contracting industry. Latterly C19 started to grip the world reducing desire to reduce face to face engagement and utilise technology to recruit. Both these occurrences presented opportunities to develop this portal, reducing touch points, time and complexity. Genuine contractors are now, more than ever, looking to find genuine IR35 compliant opportunities. The message we were hearing is that business still needs interim, contract and Fixed Term resource and expect that to demand to grow as projects come back on line and more Contract resource disappears from the market place. Having several hundred pre-interviewed contractors as a resource, who are checked weekly and available to review is a real benefit.
Bench.Direct spun off into its own business in January 2020 but still shares very close ties to its sister business.
The company ethos is simple. Honest, open, ethical and professional and that’s exactly what we are. We communicate with our clients and contractors, we look after them, provide excellent customer service and pride ourselves on having some of the best, curated, IT contracting talent currently available.
Our company culture is hard work, fun, flexible, professional, don’t take yourself too seriously and always help to look after the various office dogs (a huge priority at Bench.Direct)
What are we?
Bench.Direct is not a recruitment agency. We don’t have hot and cold running recruitment consultants or sales people crawling over every enquiry. We are a team of experienced professionals with varying backgrounds who work closely together and combine our skills to make Bench.Direct a success and one of the first “go to” places to hire a top IT contractor.
Our sole objective is to provide an open and transparent on line market place where businesses can easily find the best and most appropriate talent needed to drive transformation post Covid and further on in to the future.
The Team
Marcus Harris is an entrepreneur and a veteran of many start-ups, turnarounds and business sales and is CEO of this new platform business. Bench.Direct as a technology start-up is far and away the most exciting and ambitious project to date.
Claire Elkin joins him as the Product owner and is the driving force behind its recent substantial growth. Claire has a varied background, sales, recruitment, marketing and account management to name but a few. Claire has spent the last 10 years working within Software companies in the UK. Claire will continue to be the main driving force behind Bench.Direct. She’s a busy lady who loves what she does.
Tim Evans has recently come to Bench.Direct from being with Incite Insight for many years. Tim is a resourcing expert and brings his years of recruitment experience to ensure Bench.Direct only has the best available contractors on the site, and he loves to talk!
Emma Beasley is the lady who deals with all the finances and keeps the team in check from a monetary perspective, she’s also responsible for invoicing our clients and ensuring the contractors are paid on time.
Bob is one of the Bench.Direct office dogs. He likes to sleep, eat treats, judge the bad parking outside the office and keep the team in check! He even has his own Instagram account #bobthescruffydog.
