What agencies actually promise when a placement fails

Most buyers compare one. There are three, and the one people ignore is usually the one that hurts.

1. How long it lasts

The number everyone quotes. The category norm sits between 30 and 90 days, with 90 the most common published figure among remote staffing providers. A few go further. Some back placements for six months, and a small number publish a lifetime guarantee with no cap at all.

This is the easiest term to compare and the least informative, because a guarantee window only matters if you can tell inside it whether the placement is working. For a defined support role you can. For a senior engineer whose ramp is two months, a 90-day window closes around the time you would first have real evidence.

2. How fast they have to replace

The number almost nobody publishes, and the one that determines your actual exposure.

A guarantee tells you the agency will replace someone. It usually does not say when. Meanwhile the role is empty, the work is not happening, and you are the one absorbing that.

For context on what the category considers acceptable: evaluation guidance in this space describes a strong guarantee as replacement at no cost within 90 days, with 30 to 45 days allowed to find the replacement. That is a month and a half of the seat sitting empty, described as good.

3. What voids it

Every guarantee has exclusions, and reasonable ones exist: unclear briefs, scope changes nobody communicated, client actions that prevented delivery. Those are fair.

What to watch for is an exclusion broad enough to swallow the clause, or a documentation requirement heavy enough that invoking the guarantee becomes its own project. A guarantee that requires extensive written evidence before it triggers is designed not to trigger.

A comparison only works between like and like, and there are two structures in this market that produce guarantees which look comparable and are not.

Direct hire

You pay a one-time placement fee, often a percentage of salary, and the person becomes your employee. The guarantee means that if they leave inside the window, the agency finds a replacement without charging a second fee. Some firms in this model publish very long warranties, up to five years. Read those carefully: the longest ones are typically a single replacement for that specific position, not unlimited coverage.

Monthly staffing

You pay a monthly fee per person for as long as the engagement runs. There is no placement fee to refund. Here the guarantee means a replacement at no additional cost, and your exposure is the time the seat is empty rather than a sunk fee.

A five-year warranty in the first model and a lifetime guarantee in the second are answering different questions. Do not compare the headline numbers across models.

We will be straightforward about what this shows. A no-expiry guarantee is strong but we are not the only ones offering it. What is unusual is committing to a deadline: acknowledged within two business days, sourcing started within five, a qualified replacement delivered within fourteen, with a pro-rated fee credit if we miss, and fees suspended entirely while the seat is empty.

We publish that because a guarantee without a clock transfers the waiting back to you.

1. 01How long does the guarantee run, and what happens the day after it expires?
2. 02How many business days do you have to deliver a replacement? Is that in the contract?
3. 03What happens if you miss it?
4. 04What voids the guarantee?
5. 05Do I keep paying while the seat is empty?
6. 06Is this one replacement or unlimited?

Question two is the one that changes the conversation. Most agencies have not thought about it, because nobody asks.

A specific duration, a specific replacement deadline in business days, a defined remedy if it is missed, narrow and readable exclusions, and no charge either way.