Open Book Policy
In our opinion, delivering on promises is just as much a part of a solid, long-term collaboration as making margins transparent. We therefore strictly adhere to our self-imposed Open Book Policy in all areas of our services, whether freelancing or abroad with our nearshoring sister Quantum International Málaga S.L..
We believe that fair products declare their ingredients. And possibly the supply chains as well.
In the end, the buyer wants to know who earns at which end and how much?
This attitude manifests itself in the transparency of our margins. In the D-A-CH area, it is fifteen percent for freelancers.
In Nearshoring, we disclose the salaries of our permanent employees and work with Collaboration Amounts that cover our benefits.
FREELANCING
Open Book: Open Margin
In Freelancing in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, we have agreed on a margin of eight to thirteen percent across the company.
For searches outside of our core competencies (in D-A CH these are roles such as Product Owner, Scrum Master and Coaches, User Experience Designer, Developer and Dev Ops) that we cannot serve ourselves within four weeks, we use specialized suppliers to provide us with suitable candidates. In this case we guarantee a maximum margin of the guaranteed fifteen percent.
PURPOSE
Why is margin disclosure important to us?
In some companies, it is common to specify margins in the mid-double digits. This has disadvantages for organizations and freelancers from several points of view:
The candidates are sold much more expensive than they estimate their own value. This is associated with correspondingly high expectations on the part of the customer with regard to the freelancer’s know-how. In most cases, the expert does not know the amount of the margin of the intermediary company and falls into the trap with the customer.
In these cases, organizations pay too much for the candidate and are often well above the market rate. In the long run, this is not only very expensive, but also in no way justified. Good performance costs money. But are forty to fifty percent markups, and often over a period of more than six months, really justified? We see it differently.
Excessively high, non-transparent margins cause frustration on all sides: The freelancer sees his work as exploited, because the intermediary simply earns large sums along with it. The customer must have the feeling of paying too much without knowing exactly where he stands. Hand on heart: Many intermediaries view this practice critically and shy away from the step into transparency.
NEARSHORING
Open Book in Nearshoring
Especially in this area we focus on transparency – open margins are the basis of cooperation for us.
When it comes to organizations finding good candidates quickly and engaging them for an extended period of time, the Open Book Policy is indispensable.
Companies that assemble teams using nearshoring partners are often faced with a black box: the question arises as to how much the partner, who is often based abroad, earns from the individual resource. Many companies still keep this important key figure under wraps.
We are also flying the flag here:
Salaries of our clients’ team members are openly communicated, even negotiated together with the client. We charge for our services with Collaboration Amounts, which cover recruitment, administrative work related to employment, accounting work and office space, as well as running costs.
They vary by team size and range from three to four figures per candidate.
We usually communicate the exact amounts when clarifying the order.