Fees and guarantees

Permanent placements

Our fee for a permanent placement is a percentage of the member of staff’s first-year gross salary. It falls due on the day they start, not before, and nothing is payable if a search does not end in a placement, except a retainer where the search is retained.

Percentages are of first-year gross salary. Swiss fees are invoiced in Swiss francs by our partner in Zürich.

First-year gross salary means the salary agreed for the first twelve months, with any guaranteed bonus and any allowance paid in cash. It does not include the value of accommodation, board, a car or health insurance provided by the household.

Retained searches begin with a retainer, payable when we are instructed: $12,500 for a house manager or estate manager and $9,500 for estate security. The retainer is credited in full against the placement fee. If a household withdraws its instruction, the retainer is not refunded; if we fail to present a shortlist within twelve weeks, it is.

By way of example: a live-in housekeeper engaged at $92,000 a year, with accommodation provided, gives a fee of $20,240. A house manager engaged at $178,000, with a $12,500 retainer already paid, gives a fee of $44,500, of which $32,000 is invoiced on the first day.

The guarantee

Every permanent placement carries a guarantee of ninety days from the first day of employment. If the member of staff leaves, or the household ends the placement, within that time, for any reason other than redundancy or a change in the household’s own circumstances, we will search for a replacement and place them without a further fee.

If we cannot present a replacement the household accepts within sixty days, we refund part of the fee instead:

The guarantee applies once to each placement, and only where our invoice was paid within fourteen days. It does not apply to temporary or seasonal placements, or to a member of staff whose agreed duties, hours or place of work the household has changed without our knowledge.

Trial days

Before an offer is made, the preferred candidate usually spends one or two paid days at the house. The household pays the candidate directly, at a day rate we agree with both sides in advance, usually between $350 and $600. We do not charge for trial days, and we do not arrange unpaid ones.

Temporary and seasonal staff

Temporary staff are booked by the day, the week or the season. Our fee is a percentage of the member of staff’s gross pay for the booking, invoiced weekly.

Percentages are of the gross pay of the member of staff for the booking.

If a household engages a temporary member of staff permanently, the permanent fee applies, less half of the temporary fees already paid for that member of staff.

When fees fall due

We invoice permanent fees on the first day of employment, and temporary fees each Monday for the week before. Invoices are payable within fourteen days by bank transfer or by check. Households for whom we run payroll are invoiced with it.

Introductions

If, within twelve months of our introducing a candidate, a household engages that candidate in any capacity, whether directly or through anyone else, our fee is due as if we had placed them. So is our fee if a household passes a candidate’s details to another household that engages them. We mention this not because it often happens, but because, when it does, it is better to have said so.

What we never charge

We never charge candidates anything, at any stage: no registration fee, no fee for training, no deduction from their pay. We do not charge households for a consultation, for a visit, or for a search that does not end in a placement, unless the search is retained.

The full terms are set out in our terms of business, which every household receives and signs before we begin a search.