← Help centre

Terms of business

Signed in? Ask Lovelio this question inside the app - it answers from this same page.

Your terms of business live in Settings > Hiring > Fees & Terms, under "Terms document". Admins only by default. Every client's terms link page shows this wording with that client's name and address, and the numbers from that client's approved fees.

The numbers always come from the fees

The wording holds merge fields such as {{fee_table}}, {{guarantee}} and {{payment_terms}}. The fee bands, minimum fee, contract margin, guarantee, payment days and currency are always filled in from the client's approved fee schedule, so the document can never say a different number from the one agreed. Change a number under Standard fees or on the client's Terms tab, never in the wording.

Build my terms

Build my terms sits above the wording. It is one sentence: what you place (permanent people, contractors, or both), how long an introduction stays chargeable, whether the fee applies to any kind of hire, whether it still counts when a client passes the person on, when a contractor can be taken on permanently for free, what a client pays if they pull an accepted offer, whether late payers pay interest, and whether your liability is capped. Click any underlined phrase to change it.

"Write my terms" replaces the wording below with a full document. Nothing saves until you press Save changes, and Cancel puts the saved wording back. The answers are not stored: the saved wording is your terms, and you can edit it freely afterwards.

The document is written for your company's country (set in Settings > Company):

  • Australia: GST, the Privacy Act 1988, work health and safety duties for contractors, and the law of your state.
  • New Zealand: GST, the Privacy Act 2020, the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, and the controlling third party rule for contractors.
  • United Kingdom: VAT, the UK GDPR, the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, and the transfer fee rules for taking on a contractor, including the extended hire option. The contractor free period is set by law there, so it is not one of the choices.
  • United States: sales tax where it applies, and the law of your state.
  • Anywhere else: neutral wording.

What other agencies' terms say

Lovelio read the public terms of business of 317 recruitment agencies: 100 in Australia and New Zealand, 165 in the UK and 52 in the US. Build my terms starts each answer at what most agencies in your market do, and each choice shows the share of those terms that say the same. The line under the sentence gives the middle fee, guarantee, payment days and introduction period in your market. These are counts of what was read, not advice. Only figures are kept; no agency's words are in Lovelio. Agencies outside those three markets get the sentence without the figures.

Questions

  • Does Build my terms change my fees? No. It writes words only. Fees stay exactly as set under Standard fees and on each client's Terms tab.
  • I edited my wording by hand. Will Build my terms keep my edits? No. Write my terms replaces all the wording. Press Cancel before saving to get your saved wording back.
  • Is this legal advice? No. It is written from common agency practice in your country, in that country's legal terms.