Do agencies take a chunk of your salary?

Sly21C

Expert Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2008
Messages
4,632
I have a question, I have heard from some people that if one finds emplyment throuth a recruitment agency then every month that agency takes a big chuck of your salary, is that true?
 

MielieSpoor

Expert Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2006
Messages
1,984
No, the employer pays the agency a onceoff % of you annual salary. You sign a contract with your employer and what they say in there they will pay you is waht you are being paid.

Resource brokers on the other hand take a cut. Say they get a job for you for R120/hour, their rate may be 10% so you will only get R108/hour.
 

JK8

Banned
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
14,105
If you a temp then yip they do, they take around R9 p/hour.
They also take another R3 from you for parties, timesheets and other miscellaneous crap...
 

TheHiveMind

Banned
Joined
Jul 25, 2008
Messages
5,073
No.

The company who hires you, pays the agency seperately. The offer you receive from the company is what you get. There are no deductions. Atleast thats how it has worked for me. The company pays, you don't.
 

Pitbull

Verboten
Joined
Apr 8, 2006
Messages
64,307
No, the employer pays the agency a onceoff % of you annual salary. You sign a contract with your employer and what they say in there they will pay you is waht you are being paid.

Correct to an extend.

This they get as a finders fee if the company makes your permanent ;)

If you a temp then yip they do, they take around R9 p/hour.
They also take another R3 from you for parties, timesheets and other miscellaneous crap...

100% spot on
 

RichardG

Honorary Master
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
11,697
One of my friends found a job through a recruitment agency and she was getting paid directly by the agency and the agency took like 10%-15% of her pay.
 

sly

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2007
Messages
581
Correct to an extend.

This they get as a finders fee if the company makes your permanent ;)



100% spot on

This is how I work with one agencies

any candidates you refer quote your name when applying as there is a referral fee of R3000 payable to you for all candidates referred that are successfully placed"

They don't continue deducting any money from the candidates.
 

Cyberdude

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2008
Messages
528
Some agencies do take a cut but it is not legal. Make sure the agency is registered with APSO.
 

Kloon

Expert Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
1,670
Some agencies do take a cut, but then they pay you and not the company, but normal practice is that the company pay a once off fee.
 

Pitbull

Verboten
Joined
Apr 8, 2006
Messages
64,307
Some agencies do take a cut but it is not legal. Make sure the agency is registered with APSO.

Not true.

Remember Agencies tender for contracts at big companies. Thus they agree on a rate of lets say R 50 an hour with the company. They in turn offer you a rate for working for them.

They will prob offer you R 38 an hour where the company is paying the agency R 50. You will not see a deduction from your salary but the fee paid and fee given is different.
 

2CentsWorth

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2008
Messages
674
One of my friends found a job through a recruitment agency and she was getting paid directly by the agency and the agency took like 10%-15% of her pay.

Sounds illegal. Probably the recruitment company hired her and subcontracted her to the company.
 

Arzy

Honorary Master
Joined
Apr 18, 2004
Messages
29,019
The placement agency that got me my current job merely got paid a finders fee by the company that now employs me. I know this cause one of my first tasks was to actually get the agency paid and I thought it was ridiculous what they got...20% of my yearly salary...
 

Gadget Man

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2006
Messages
717
If the recruitment company is paying her, then she is employed by the recruitment company. The funds that the recruitment company receives is then deducted before paying their staff a salary. This is almost like a temping position ... sounds unfair but that how it works. If this is it then it is not a recruitment but something like a labour broker.
 

LandyMan

Honorary Master
Joined
Feb 28, 2005
Messages
12,231
With permanent placements (ie. the intended employer is looking for a permanent staff member) the employer will pay the agency a commission of whatever % of the intended staff member's salary. There are different variations on this, based on whether the candidate remains employed by the employer for more than a certain amount of time. If not, then the agency refunds the employer

If an employer is looking for a contractor, more often than not, the agency will propose you as a contractor at say R220/h, if your rate is R200/h. They then keep R20/h for the duration of the contract for admin, payroll costs, and of course profit
 

Gothan

Expert Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2005
Messages
4,966
Depends on the appointment, if you are permanent or a fixed term contractor, they negotiate their fee upfront, on top of your cost to company.

If you are not a fixed term contractor, and work through a labour broker, they either work on a percentage per hour or a fixed "admin" fee every month
 

_TrXtR_

Expert Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2006
Messages
1,919
Ask the recruitment agent.
They all do it many different ways... you pay a lump sum, the employer pays a lump sum, they take a % from you... they take a % from the employer... heck I'm sure some of them do it all.
 

Sly21C

Expert Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2008
Messages
4,632
Hey guys, I just got an email from someone who works for a labour broker. This is what the first sentance of the email says, "My name is Etienne Swanepoel and I work for the labour broker company Khankasa Solutions".

Now I have heard that labour brokers charge a lot of money since off your salary, or do they?
 

Waaib

Executive Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
5,808
Hey guys, I just got an email from someone who works for a labour broker. This is what the first sentance of the email says, "My name is Etienne Swanepoel and I work for the labour broker company Khankasa Solutions".

Now I have heard that labor brokers charge a lot of money since off your salary, or do they?

Depends how you negotiate. If you say you want to earn R1000 per day and they must sort out their fee over and above that with the client then they can either do that or find someone else. Look after yourself first and be sure to get in writing what you will be paid nett into your account after their deduction. Also ask them to tell you their fee to the customer. It's not a secret. If you don't work then they get zero so it's mutually beneficial. Plus if their fee is double what you make out of the deal it's not fair on you.
 
Last edited:

Sly21C

Expert Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2008
Messages
4,632
If the recruitment company is paying her, then she is employed by the recruitment company. The funds that the recruitment company receives is then deducted before paying their staff a salary. This is almost like a temping position ... sounds unfair but that how it works. If this is it then it is not a recruitment but something like a labour broker.

So how do labour brokers work then? Do they get a share of one's salary every month? How do they work?
 

Waaib

Executive Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
5,808
Labor brokers (LB) are also sometimes called body-shops.

Lets say a company has an accountant that takes 6 months maternity leave.
The company calls the LB for a replacement accountant.
The LB find a freelance accountant and agree on a rate per hour or week or for the whole 6 months with the accountant. Lets say the fee for 6 months is R120,000.
The LB then contacts the client and says the rate for the 6 months is R150,000.
Accountant gets R120k the LB keeps the R30k as a type of finders fee.
Same applies for hourly / weekly work.
 
Top