All too often, we hear stories of dodgy recruiter behaviour. I am not even going to pretend that there are no shonky operators out there, because we all know that there are. But just because there are some cowboys on the range (so to speak), that does not mean that clients have the right to steal from us. Because when you think you're being sneaky and clever by hiring a temp back but not through the agency who introduced them to you, you are stealing from the agency. It's theft.

And it's wrong. You might like to justify your behaviour by reasoning that the agency has made plenty of money out of you already and you shouldn't have to pay anymore. You might say to yourself that the agency does jack all to earn the 'exorbitant' margins that they charge. You may even tell yourself that you have to do it because you can't afford to pay their rates but you are desperate for the temp to help out in the office.

Well, I can't afford an Aston Martin, but I don't think I am entitled to have one anyway. Dear client, I want you to think about it like this: what product or service does your business provide that you are happy for your customers to have for free? And not because you have offered the product or service as a deal to the customer, but just because they want it but don't want to pay for it. Yes, recruiters make money from placing temporary workers with your business. And yes, employing temp staff IS expensive to our clients.

BUT just because we are in business to make money, you do not have the right to not pay for our services. Listen closely: when you steal from us, we will not take this laying down. We will not go quietly into the night. We will not just shake our heads and leave it alone. We will ask you to pay. We will show you the terms of business that you signed to work with us, and we will ask you to pay. We will continue to ask you to pay until you do. Because we value the work that we do. So should you.