Greedy Agencies
“Greedy Agencies raise Client Expectations” is a post by a reader in response to one of our articles.
He reckons that some agencies are conning contractors.
Ridiculous Agency Margins
It is my experience that where agencies take a ridiculous margin it affects the clients expectations unduly.
This happened in a job I had where a colleague of mine who was the project manager had come in to run a team of 8-10 people.
The project was much bigger than they thougt it would be. So, it ballooned to 30-40.
Greater Reward
So, naturally he went to the client and explained that whilst he’d like the challenge he expected a greater reward.
The client then jumped on him saying they were already paying over the odds, and then quoting a figure.
They were paying nearly 50% higher than he was getting. The recruitment agency margin was astonishing.
That’s greedy agencies for you. That isn’t morally or ethically right. How could one of those greedy agencies be taking half of all that I earned. What justification could there be for that?
The higher agency margins were a disadvantage to him.
A Month’s Notice
The IT agency wouldn’t budge, so he ended up leaving by getting the now sympathetic client to give him a month’s notice.
They then brought in someone else from a different agency, and the original agency was needless to say left with nothing but a bad reputation.
UKContractor Comments
That is ourageous. These type of agencies are the bane of the industry. As you say, how could they justify taking half of your money. They may have earned quite a bit over a few months but that stopped abruptly and they then got nothing.
It also cost them their reputation with that client. They lost all the repeat business that they could have had with them. They could have had multiple contractors in with them in the future. However, that potentioal source of incoem is now closed to them.
Greedy Agencies like that deserve what they get.
