How it works
Startup Staffing places permanent employees for growing businesses. What changes is not the recruitment work — it is when you pay for it, and what happens to the cost if the hire does not stay.
What SUS changes
In conventional recruitment, an agency is paid a percentage of annual salary shortly after your new employee starts. The work is done, the invoice is settled, and the agency's commercial interest in that placement is largely over.
Under SUS, the recruitment cost is paid through an agreed monthly percentage of the employee's gross monthly salary, invoiced while they remain employed by you. If the employment ends, the billing ends with it.
That single change moves recruitment from a lump sum at the worst possible moment to a predictable monthly line in your budget, and it keeps us commercially connected to whether the hire actually works out.
Using the illustrative example of a £60,000 salary, a 20% traditional fee and a 17.5% monthly SUS example. These percentages are examples only.
| Aspect compared | Traditional | SUS |
|---|---|---|
| When you pay | A single fee close to the start date | Monthly in arrears while the employee stays |
| How it is calculated | Percentage of annual salary (£12,000 in this example) | Percentage of gross monthly salary (£5,000 × 17.5% = £875) |
| If the employee leaves | The fee has already been paid, subject to any rebate terms | Billing stops from their final date of employment |
| Total over a long tenure | Fixed at the one-off fee | Can exceed a one-off fee over time, unless you exercise the pre-agreed buy-out for that hire |
| Who employs the candidate | You do | You do — the contract is directly with your business |
This part will feel familiar. It is delivered by Humand's recruitment consultants.
We work with you to understand the role, the team around it and where the business is heading.
Humand's recruitment team sources, assesses and introduces suitable candidates.
The candidate becomes your employee in the normal way, on your contract and your terms.
Instead of one large recruitment invoice, the agreed recruitment fee is paid through monthly payments linked to that employee.
If the employee leaves, billing stops. You can also choose to buy out the agreement under the agreed commercial terms.
Billing
Billing runs from your new employee's start date. Invoices are issued monthly in arrears at the percentage agreed with you, applied to the employee's gross monthly salary, payable within 14 days and exclusive of VAT.
In the worked example, £60,000 ÷ 12 gives a gross monthly salary of £5,000. At an illustrative 17.5%, the monthly SUS invoice is £875. Nothing falls due at the point of hire.
Your own percentage is agreed with you individually and confirmed in writing before any work begins.
A worked example
A startup hires a software engineer on £60,000. Here is the same hire funded the traditional way and the SUS way, with every step of the maths shown. All percentages below are illustrative examples, not standard rates.
A fee charged as a percentage of annual salary, invoiced at the point of hire.
The whole £12,000 falls due close to the start date, alongside salary, onboarding and equipment.
A percentage of the employee's gross monthly salary, invoiced monthly in arrears while they stay.
Nothing is invoiced at the point of hire. Billing starts from the start date and stops if the employment ends.
| After | Traditional (paid upfront) | SUS (paid monthly) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 month | £12,000 | £8751 × £875 |
| 6 months | £12,000 | £5,2506 × £875 |
| 12 months | £12,000 | £10,50012 × £875 |
| 15 months | £12,000 | £13,12515 × £875 |
| 24 months | £12,000 | £21,00024 × £875 |
At these example figures, Month 14 is the first full month where cumulative SUS cost is above the traditional fee. The exact breakeven is about 13.7 months. Before that, less has left the business; after it, more. SUS does not stay cheaper indefinitely and we do not claim it does.
The real difference is when the recruitment cost is paid and how the risk is shared. If the hire leaves in month four, four monthly payments have been made and billing stops. With a one-off fee, the full amount has already gone.
Your buy-out value for each hire is agreed in writing up front, and you can exercise it later to stop future monthly billing for that hire. Fees already paid are not deducted from it.
Want to try your own numbers?
Change the salary, percentages and length of employment in the calculator.
Get a rateLeavers
Tell us the final date of employment and billing stops from that date — whether the employee resigns, is dismissed, is made redundant or leaves by mutual agreement. You do not keep paying for a hire who is no longer with the business.
This is the practical difference in how recruitment risk is shared. Under a one-off fee, an early departure means the full fee has already left your account. Under SUS, you have paid for the months the person was actually there.
Flexibility
A buy-out is a pre-agreed contractual route to stop future monthly SUS charges for that hire.
The buy-out value, or the basis for calculating it, is agreed with you in writing in your commercial terms at the outset, for each hire. You can exercise that pre-agreed option later under those terms, without a fresh commercial negotiation. Once it is paid, future monthly billing for that hire stops. Other hires are unaffected. Monthly fees already paid are not deducted, credited or refunded against the buy-out by default; they cover the months already elapsed.
It matters most over a long tenure: it is a contractual route you already hold, so you can close out future monthly charges for that hire without opening a new negotiation. It is a route to close out future monthly charges for one hire, not a cap on what recruitment can cost.
Employment
You do. The person is employed directly by your business, on your own employment contract and your own terms. Humand Talent Limited is not the employer, and nobody is supplied on a contract, agency or umbrella basis.
The SUS monthly model applies to permanent placements. Fixed-term, part-time or other engagements are billed as a one-off placement fee at an agreed percentage of the total remuneration package, confirmed before any work begins.
It is not for everybody, and the homepage sets out where it may not fit.
The rate calculator lets you change the salary, both example percentages and the length of employment, and shows the point where the cumulative totals meet. You can model a single role or stage a whole team plan. It is an illustration, not a quote.
Common questions
Short answers on cost, billing, leavers and buy-outs. Where something depends on your individually agreed commercial terms, we say so.
Ask us your questionNot answered here? Ask us the question directly and we will answer it plainly.
Ask usGuides from the resource hub that cover the thinking behind this page. Each one is written by us and reviewed before publication.
You do not need a finished job specification to talk to us. A rough idea of the role is plenty — we will do the rest with you.
Prefer to talk? 01865 657 000
Prefer email? joseph@humand.co.uk