More and more of the recruitment business owners and leaders in my network are experiencing a growing phenomenon. What is it?
Their clients (the end-hirers) are insisting that they work under their terms of business for suppliers, rather than the ones issued by the agency.
And that is to be expected, as employers are recognising the potential risks of allowing line managers to commit the company on recruiters’ terms without oversight.
These employers want to have confidence in their whole supply chain, often because there are vicarious responsibilities under other acts and regulations (like modern slavery, GDPR, etc).
And, frankly, because some of them are big, kick-ass brands who know that almost all recruiters would be delighted to have their business.
BUT….
You’d be naïve to think that their terms are fair and balanced to both parties. It’s natural for a business to want the advantage tilted towards itself.
And the procurement department, or in-house counsel, that wrote them is unlikely to grasp every detail of recruitment regulations like the Conduct Regulations, AWR, IR35. So they omit a lot of the stuff that you need to be in there.
And they will (usually) attempt to make you liable for lots of things that are not in your control because of the unique, triangular arrangement in recruitment.
Worst of all, recruiters assume they have absolutely no opportunity to discuss amendments, or sign blindly without realising how they have exposed their recruitment business. They swallow hard and think of the fees.
NOW, if it’s a big potential account for you, you should definitely engage a lawyer with wide experience in recruitment to review them for you. You can sue a lawyer if they are negligent in this. The very best will explain the risk and have a clear view on the real-world likelihood of that risk turning into reality, as well as the technical points.
But a number of the clients I have worked with have found my guidance on this very useful as a first line of defence.
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