Found out what my agency make charge for me

[jmo21]

Well, it finally happened, I found out what the agency is charging the client for me.

30% on top of my rate!

Now I know, "you were happy to accept your rate" etc, and that's fine, I'm not actually that annoyed.

I just have the knowledge now to try and get some more money out of them for my next extension (if it happens!).

So how did I find out?

Old permie comes up to me "Jmo21 is this yours, it's got your name on it"

Paper from the printer, an invoice from agent to client co with me as a line item.

No says me, permie says, "must be the boss, be he's not here today, must have printed to wrong location"

"I'll pass it on when I see him" says I.

[SandyD]

Had an interview the other day, and strangely enough the client at the end of the interview discussed the rate with me, and he said, SandyD, it says here that your agreed rate is £xxx I was baffled, actually the rate he quoted is exactly the one I agreed with the agency, I thought they would have charged more, but it seems some agree a flat fee for all contractors.

[SandyD]

Well, it finally happened, I found out what the agency is charging the client for me.

30% on top of my rate!

Now I know, "you were happy to accept your rate" etc, and that's fine, I'm not actually that annoyed.

I just have the knowledge now to try and get some more money out of them for my next extension (if it happens!).

So how did I find out?

Old permie comes up to me "Jmo21 is this yours, it's got your name on it"

Paper from the printer, an invoice from agent to client co with me as a line item.

No says me, permie says, "must be the boss, be he's not here today, must have printed to wrong location"

"I'll pass it on when I see him" says I.

Are you on good terms with the boss, i.e. can you talk to him openly about this? Perhaps you can chat to him and let him know and he can negotiate a less mark up from the agency, to the benefit the client not yourself (i.e. don't ask for a raise if you think our rate is fair) you will be charged at a cheaper rate for the client, this way the client maybe pleased you are trying to save them money ??

[evilagent]

If you access to their live systems, or a recent copy of live, its usually an easy search through the clients Purchase Orders trail to find out whats going on.
(I know, I've been there! It's fun when negotiating extensions though)

When your next contract comes up, and you have to go through the phoning up clients, establishing requirements, putting forward CV, arranging interviews, etc, how much time would you expend doing that? (and you wont be earning whilst this is happening)

Evil creatures from hell that we are, when your next contract comes up, all that searching has been done for you, and short-listing. So you only get put forward to those places you have the greatest chance of landing.

[malvolio]

Have fun,. but at least get the sums straight so you and the management ar talking the same numbers. The agency aren't putting 30% on your rate. You are getting roughly 23% of theirs.

More to the point, the client won't change anything, they have no need to, quite apart from them already having an agreed contract with the agency and a line budget to pay for it. Your discussion is with the agency, nobody else.

And be aware the end game may be you out of a job...

[jmo21]

Have fun,. but at least get the sums straight so you and the management ar talking the same numbers. The agency aren't putting 30% on your rate. You are getting roughly 23% of theirs.

More to the point, the client won't change anything, they have no need to, quite apart from them already having an agreed contract with the agency and a line budget to pay for it. Your discussion is with the agency, nobody else.

And be aware the end game may be you out of a job...

oh yes, very aware of all that, it's a tightrope to walk that's for sure.

[SandyD]

If you access to their live systems, or a recent copy of live, its usually an easy search through the clients Purchase Orders trail to find out whats going on.
(I know, I've been there! It's fun when negotiating extensions though)

When your next contract comes up, and you have to go through the phoning up clients, establishing requirements, putting forward CV, arranging interviews, etc, how much time would you expend doing that? (and you wont be earning whilst this is happening)

Evil creatures from hell that we are, when your next contract comes up, all that searching has been done for you, and short-listing. So you only get put forward to those places you have the greatest chance of landing.

We / I not disagreeing agents needs to have a cut and fees for what they are doing, believe it or not am grateful for some agents (top respectable ones) they have landed me some really excellent contracts when previously I tried a few times with the same client/ same CV etc, but the client didn't respond to my direct application, however the agent worked his magic and I immediately got in.

The problem is when the agent is charging a very high fees (30% is too high) it looks bad on the contractor as if the contractor is charging such high fees, and when budget cuts happen the high charging contractors would be cut for cheaper bobs... I've seen this happen to one of my colleagues.

[quackhandle]

At my last client on the system for all to see was an excel spreadsheet with contractor details from a well known agency (not the one I was with) No rates were mentioned but contact numbers, skill level, attitude, if they accepted a pay cut, who to extend & who not to based on recommendations from PMs, line managers etc. Made for interesting reading, as I worked with some of the contractors mentioned as they were still there.

You'd have though they would have taken more care with sensitive details like this, but no, it was in a folder in the same directory as all the project files and not even password protected.

qh

[SandyD]

Have fun,. but at least get the sums straight so you and the management ar talking the same numbers. The agency aren't putting 30% on your rate. You are getting roughly 23% of theirs.

More to the point, the client won't change anything, they have no need to, quite apart from them already having an agreed contract with the agency and a line budget to pay for it. Your discussion is with the agency, nobody else.

And be aware the end game may be you out of a job...

Very good point, one must not rock the boat unless one can afford to.

[jmo21]

Are you on good terms with the boss, i.e. can you talk to him openly about this? Perhaps you can chat to him and let him know and he can negotiate a less mark up from the agency, to the benefit the client not yourself (i.e. don't ask for a raise if you think our rate is fair) you will be charged at a cheaper rate for the client, this way the client maybe pleased you are trying to save them money ??

Interesting, although this could also trigger the agent trying to reduce my rate, so client would need to be very forceful on my behalf.