Reply to: Problems with agency - how easy is it to ditch them??

[Wanderer]

Good work ciscokid! Thanks for letting us know how it turned out.

[ciscokid]

Everyone - I got shot of my agency. Basically proved to some senior people that I had been messaed about pretty badly and they agreed to let me go at the end of my contract and go through another agency. They tried to keep me, by upping my day rate, but I declined.

Thanks for the advice - ;-)

[ciscokid]

Thank you very much again for your advice.

I'll give you an update when I sort out what is going on - I'm in a position where the customer would be screwed if I left and they know that they are getting me for a steal. So I have a fair amount of pull...

cheers again - it's much appreciated.

[Wanderer]

Thank you very much again for your help. I really do appreciate it - I could probably live with 2 months off, but not sure if my employer could...

All I can say is don't go cutting your nose off to spite your face. Not working = not earning. It would take ages to recoop the money you would lose and it disrupts the client's business.

1. Ask the client if they will support you ditching the agency and going with another one. This is high risk as the agency will go ballistic.

2. Beat the agency up and tell them you want them to cut their margin. Definately can be done.

Can we ask how much the 50 pounds is as a percentage of your daily rate? If it's about 10% then it's pretty fair in my opinion. If it's 30% then they can come down to 10-15% max, especially at renewal time.

Bottom line is that agencies are crap, the sooner we all come to terms with the happer we all are.

[TykeMerc]

Hi

Thank you very much for the advice, I have not evern heard of the "Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations".

Do you know anyone who'se been tied into a longer period than in the regs and managed to wriggle out of it?

many thanks

Yes me, but you need a client with a lot of pull with the agency who's willing to back you all the way. I had handed in notice and told the client I was leaving simply because of the agencies behaviour which they were aware of already anyway. The Programme Director was a seriously stroppy git too who didn't like one of the agency senior managers either.
In my case the client wanted rid of the agency even more than I did, the 6 month clause was totally ignored and the agency told very clearly that any hassle to me would see all their client business killed off fast.

Without the client being completely on your side they won't take the risk at their end either since they have a contract with the agency which probably excludes them hiring an agency supplied contractor direct for X months.

[ciscokid]

Did you opt out of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations? If you opted out of the regulations then this restriction may actually be enforceable against you.

If you did NOT opt out of the regs (or you did nothing) then the most they can hold against you is the later of:

1. 8 weeks after you last worked for the client, or
2. 14 weeks from when you first worked for the client

If you do the dirty on them I would suggest that you cease trading with your old company and form a new one so if they come after you then they won't get anything out of your company. They may attack the client and try and get money out of them though which will cause a lot of grief which will ultimately refect badly on you.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

Hi

Thank you very much for the advice, I have not evern heard of the "Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations".

Do you know anyone who'se been tied into a longer period than in the regs and managed to wriggle out of it?

many thanks

[ciscokid]

Did you opt out of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations? If you opted out of the regulations then this restriction may actually be enforceable against you.

If you did NOT opt out of the regs (or you did nothing) then the most they can hold against you is the later of:

1. 8 weeks after you last worked for the client, or
2. 14 weeks from when you first worked for the client

If you do the dirty on them I would suggest that you cease trading with your old company and form a new one so if they come after you then they won't get anything out of your company. They may attack the client and try and get money out of them though which will cause a lot of grief which will ultimately refect badly on you.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

Lads - thank you very much for all your replies.

I've never heard of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations before - I'm guessing that I will be ok for 2 months then?

I'll raise this with someone from HR in work tomorrow.

Thank you very much again for your help. I really do appreciate it - I could probably live with 2 months off, but not sure if my employer could...

[thunderlizard]

I've been told by the HR girl in work (who also dislikes them), that if an agency doesn't provide a good service to it's contractors then the contract is null and void

As well as being basically untrue, that's a dangerously backwards way of seeing things. An agency does not provide a service to its contractors. The contractors provide it with a service (i.e. work) and in return it provides them with money. They will tell you otherwise but they are lying.

[The Wikir Man]

Case in point - how many newbie contractors think that a contract which clearly states a 28 day notice period means they will get paid for 4 weeks if their contract get canned.

I used to, till it happened to me.

On my first contract.

[centurian]

Utter rubbish. Unless there is something in the contract that says...

Agreed. Agents put enourmous effort into wording these contacts in such a way that even clause is to their benefit - even the ones that appear not to be.

Clients, for all their huff and puff don't do this every day - so they don't understand the nuances of what particular clauses actually mean - or how they are rendered irrelevant by other innocous clauses.

So while ClientCo may think they have a certain position, the reality is often different.

Case in point - how many newbie contractors think that a contract which clearly states a 28 day notice period means they will get paid for 4 weeks if their contract get canned.

[blacjac]

As a side note, the agency are not taking anything from you, they are getting paid by the client to provide you.

You really need to understand that if you are going to continue contracting through agencies, otherwise you will loose a lot of sleep!

If kidding yourself makes you sleep better than so be it. Personally I prefer to work direct with my industry contacts and keep ALL my hard earned money.

Although I am relatively new to contracting, approaching 2 years. It seems there must be a lot of weak spineless characters about to have got to a position where agents lie , cheat , provide no benefit to clients and yet take some of your money. Hang your heads in shame.

Please re read what I wrote (paying particuar attention to the bit on bold).

[doodab]

Personally I prefer to work direct with my industry contacts and keep ALL my hard earned money.

And you are free to do so. Just don't take any work through agencies.

Personally if I'm not working and an agent can find me something at a rate I'm willing to accept then I take it, and they are welcome to their margin.

[escapeUK]

As a side note, the agency are not taking anything from you, they are getting paid by the client to provide you.

You really need to understand that if you are going to continue contracting through agencies, otherwise you will loose a lot of sleep!

If kidding yourself makes you sleep better than so be it. Personally I prefer to work direct with my industry contacts and keep ALL my hard earned money.

Although I am relatively new to contracting, approaching 2 years. It seems there must be a lot of weak spineless characters about to have got to a position where agents lie , cheat , provide no benefit to clients and yet take some of your money. Hang your heads in shame.

[blacjac]

As a side note, the agency are not taking anything from you, they are getting paid by the client to provide you.

You really need to understand that if you are going to continue contracting through agencies, otherwise you will loose a lot of sleep!

[conned tractor]

Hi

I've been told by the HR girl in work (who also dislikes them), that if an agency doesn't provide a good service to it's contractors then the contract is null and void - has anyone had any experience with staying working for the same company and getting rid of the agency that they work for?

many thanks

In my experience HR do not know their arse from their elbow generally and wouldn't rely on their advice with regard to such actions. Only last week I was asked for my P45 by a HR girly, to which I replied, "eh I'm a contractor, you do not need my P45", and that seemed to really perplex her. This is a rather large corp with many thousands working globally and many hundreds on the site that i'm on.

To answer your question, your stuck with them, as the other posters have said.