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Staffing Firms
From SecurityBulletins.com
About my relationship with third party staffing or recruiting firms
I don't work with third party staffing firms as a subcontractor. As is evident by reading the comments at http://www.realrates.com/news/margin.htm and http://blog.hireinsightselect.com/?p=11, the relationship of a staffing firm, client, and consultant is very broken. To avoid similar issues, I require third party staffing firms to agree to the following conditions.
Third party staffing firms wishing to work with me must agree to uphold all provisions of the Contract Worker's Bill of Rights, available at http://www.cehandbook.com/cehandbook/cwbor.html, and obtain my written consent before being authorized to present me to any client or collect any fees. The contract for my services will be written between Solo W-2, Inc. as my employer and the end client. My use of broker services are therefore limited to individual client introductions. For each successful new introduction, resulting in a new contract between the client and Solo W-2, a "finders" fee is paid to the staffing firm for their introduction service. The staffing firm's fee is separate from the contract for my ongoing services. In this way, the client knows the cost and value of each party's contribution, and my contract with the client can be straightforward, honest, and reflect the cost of my service independent of the staffing firm's cost.
I don't recognize or agree to any non-compete agreements with third party staffing firms. Such agreements have been regularly ruled unenforcible in the courts of many states. In the USA, we live in a generally competitive, capitalist economy. Everyone in a transaction, including staffing firms, should be providing value to the client in excess of their bill rates. If a party is providing positive value to the transaction, non-compete or exclusivity agreements are superfluous. Non-compete agreements simply highlight a party's inability to provide positive value to the transaction. My dedication is to the client's success, not to support staffing firms that cannot honestly and openly price their services based on the value they add to the transaction.
By contracting directly with the end client, Solo W-2, Inc. provides employer of record services and co-employment risk mitigation to the client, insures my work to the client against errors and omissions and General Liability to $5Million aggregate, does the invoicing, collections, assumes the float risk, provides me with a fantastic benefits package, pays my state and federal taxes, pays state and federal unemployment insurance, medicare, social security, and workers compensation insurance, and does the benefits administration.
The only remaining issue for the staffing firm is collecting the fee from the client for their services. The staffing firm is then free to move on to the next placement with no ongoing transaction burden. This arrangement works well for everyone in the transaction. I get the great benefits, terms, and service provided by Solo W-2, Inc. The client gets an experienced contract worker, reasonable contract terms, and a rate from Solo W-2, Inc. that reflects the cost of my consulting services provided on an ongoing basis. The client can negotiate the rates for staffing services separate from my technical services. The client can evaluate the benefit of each party's contribution and determine the value each party is providing. The staffing firm can work ethically with each party and set the rates for their services with the client. There is no incentive for the staffing firm to play the client and consultant against each other to widen the "bid/ask" spread, so the staffing firm can focus on providing the clients with the best talent for the client's need, rather than the talent that benefits the staffing firm most. The staffing firm's risk is limited to the sourcing services they provide. Staffing firms that work in an ethical, honest way earn future business and respect due to their integrity and results.
Staffing firms that do not agree to these terms are NOT authorized to present me to clients in any way and are NOT authorized to collect any associated fees from my clients or restrict me from working with any client. Further, such firms have no license to store, modify, or use my resume in any way. Staffing firms that do not agree to these terms are required to remove all copies of my resume from their facilities, computer systems, and backups.
Staffing agencies must use the materials provided specifically for the transaction being worked.
