Employment/Recruitment Agency Q?

Hi all,

I haven't been around much as I landed a terrific part time job, the only problem is with my pay.
At the Agency interview I was told the pay rate, I wrote it down and remembered it clearly as it was a tad more than I wanted. I get my pay slip and the hourly rate is nearly $2 less. I emailed agency today and I have a reply saying that the rate is correct and they don't know how a misunderstanding occurred.
Now as it turns out (to my delight) that they want me to manage the entire operation. I applied for a 2 day per week Laboratory Technician and the first pay rate would be about right.
Now the agancy did say they (my boss) were happy for me to take over the day to day running of the lab with a view to the position gradually going full time. This is great but in actual fact it is an enormous jump in responsibility from just technician. I won't be taking over an operation already in motion. I have to get the lab up and ready to be properly operational. There is so much observation, research and experimentation as well as the rosters, buying new equipment, training. I will be the liason b/ween the lab and the buyers, go to trade shows, etc etc etc etc.
So even if they were paying the agreed rate at the start, I would have renegotiated my pay about now anyway.

SO the agency actually employs me, my boss pays the agency etc etc. Now I happen to know that the agency is charging my boss $13 per HOUR more than what they are paying me. Can you tell me what the going % is for this service?

What I am being paid is just under the rate for a casual retail assistant, and that's bollocks.

The other thing is - I can't find the Award Rate for a Tissue Culture Technician. I have already rung WageLine and they couldn't find it either. It depends on the classification - Science or Agriculture for eg. Bugger it. What I did find however is that a Lab Manager is considered "Specialist Manager" and the hourly rate is almost $15 MORE than what I am currently being paid.

Oh dear - how long is this post! CAn anyone help me with this? Oh yeah - the Agency lady had absolutley NO IDEA what this job was or what it entails so I have no idea how she managed to decide what my hourly rate was.

Thanks in advance xoxoxoxoxo

I think the agency can charge whatever % they want. The client would have agreed to it first. Most places charge between 8 - 12 % but the recruitment company DH works for charges 18%. That is for perm positions though, is yours a temp position? If it's perm it should just be a one off fee not continuous on your wages.

I've done quite a bit of temp work in the past, and being in accounts always saw the invoices come in! ;)
It seems most agencies charge a fortune on top of your hourly rate when you're a temp. First they agree on your hourly rate with the client and then put their huge % on top of that. I've seen it range around 60-80%. If you were to go perm, the agency would charge them around 10% of your annual salary. I would say that the company would know what you are being paid as they would have had to discuss it with the agency first.

You could always try looking up a lab technician rate. There are a few recruitment sites that have estimated pay rates for roles.

Agencies do earn alot of money, and many recruitment consultants operate on commission too so they need to pay them, but still it's big business and lots of start-ups have been happening who are willing to drop their dacks for a deal, just depends who you go through. Cutting out the agency can earn you so much more money. John has had an almost 20% pay increase overnight, in doing his own company. No commissions ;) Sadly they can charge what they want, but if they told you the rate at the interview, thats what they should be paying you. They must have made a mistake in the interview... or are being dodgy. What did the contract you signed say?

Hi Lulu,

I used to work for a recruitment agency, and yes they do charge whatever % they want to secure the deal, and your pay rate comes out of what the agency makes, so if you ask for a higher rate they will lose money out of that deal they made with the client... iykwim?

When i did temp work I would just say the rate i wanted and i wouldn't go lower, so maybe you should just ask for what you think you are worth, or how much that particular job is worth and ask your agent about it, she/he will then have to go back to the client and renegotiate the deal price. If the agent comes back with a firm no i'd keep pushing, and explain all the extra responsibility etc.

You could look on some employment sites like Seek and see how much other employers are paying for similar roles? At least that would back up your request for a higher rate etc...

HTH :)

Yep, girls are right, ive worked in rec. agencies here and in UK. They can do whatever they want. Recently i was working as admin assistant - company was being charged $38 per hour and i was getting $25.......doesnt seem right to me.

Don't forget that the agency like any employer has added costs on top of your hourly rate before they even take a cut. There is super, workcover and payroll tax, all of these add quite a few dollars onto your hourly rate.

And all their own company costs like rent, equipment, admin etc! They have to make their money somewhere.

Oh I agree they have to make their money, I just needed to know how they work.

At the end of the day I was told a certain amount and I'm not getting it. I signed about 1000 pieces of paper in the "induction" bollocks, but nothing stating my hourly rate. She did however give me a job description of a Lab Tech, and this job is far more than that. I would be happy with the original rate for awhile though. I can't expect to be paid at the higher end immediately, I have a bit of catching up to do on the industry as I have been away from it for awhile, so that's only fair.

I don't want to rock the boat - I LOVE this job, the conditions are magic, I have so much respect for the owners, but I suspect they don't realise what the agency are paying me. I think we would all much rather go without the agency, I will speak to the owners directly tomorrow.

I think I need to clarify with the agency what award they are paying me under (it can't be right), or why they think the lower rate is applicable.

Hey Lulu, I used to work for a compnay on a temporary full time basis through an agency... I was getting paid around $38k and I somehow stumbled across information when I was doing a boring nightshift that said the agency were charging my compnay $69k for me.
When I applied for that job, I was told an hourly rate so naturally I was expecting to get that per hour but it turned out that it was the hourly rate inclusive of super, so it ended up being about $2 less per hour.

Dead silence on the Award Rate. I can't even find it. If the rate is inclusive of super etc, fine but she hasn't said that so far.....

Hi Lulu2, I used to be in a management position in a large pathology practice in NSW before I became a Mummy and I was paid $67500 plus expenses plus super. That was 18 months ago so it would be more now as I would get at least a 5% pay increase each year. I 'm not sure what the lab award rates are as I haven't actually been on the lab award rates for some time but in my experience in a management role award rates don't really count as you can usually negotiate your wage based on qualifications, responsibilities and experience.

Hope this helps.