How do you stop your recruiters being poached?

TL;DR

• The calls will come. Rec2Rec (recruitment to recruitment) firms such as Managed Growth Partners (MGP) approach good recruiters.
• Make staying the better job. Clear commission, a desk they own, a path to grow and real manager time.
• Contracts protect assets, not loyalty. Restraints and confidentiality terms can protect client relationships, confidential information and, for now, staff from a leaver’s approaches.
• The restraint ban is a draft, not law, as at 30 October 2026.

Decision matrix: ways agencies respond to poaching risk

Make staying the better job

• Best when: the agency wants billers who stay because they choose to, on a cloud contract desk or a generalist perm desk.
• Watch out for: it takes leadership time, and it won’t keep someone whose next step the agency can’t offer.
• Cost or effort: management time, and possibly commission changes.

Rely on contract terms

• Best when: the aim is to protect client relationships and confidential information after someone leaves, or to stop them recruiting colleagues while the law allows it.
• Watch out for: it doesn’t stop anyone resigning, restraints must be reasonable and a draft Bill would ban many terms.
• Cost or effort: legal review of templates now, and again if the Bill passes.

Counter-offer when someone resigns

• Best when: the reason for leaving is something the agency can genuinely fix.
• Watch out for: money alone doesn’t fix a desk, manager or career path problem.
• Cost or effort: pay, and goodwill if it looks reactive.

Build bench strength

• Best when: one resignation would leave a desk, such as a single-consultant DevOps contract desk, with no cover.
• Watch out for: it costs a seat before it pays back.
• Cost or effort: a hire’s salary, plus any placement fee.

The case for leaning on contracts: Client relationships and confidential information are real assets, and reasonable, well-drafted terms can protect them when someone leaves. A good job doesn’t stop a biller’s new firm targeting their old clients.

Verdict: Start with the job, because that is what makes a recruiter turn down a call. Treat contract terms as protection, not a retention plan, and have an employment lawyer check them now and again if the Bill passes. Keep counter-offers for reasons the agency can fix, and build cover on any desk that depends on one person.

Why do good recruiters take the call?

Approaches are part of a working market. Rec2Rec firms, MGP included, approach recruiters who aren’t looking for a job, and good recruiters will get those calls.

A consultant who built a cloud contract desk may hear from a software company building an in-house team. A data perm biller may hear from a bigger agency’s tech practice. The same applies on any desk.

Across all Australian workers, not recruiters specifically, about 1.0 million people changed employer or business in the year ending February 2026, a job mobility rate of 7.2%, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) job mobility data. A quarter of people who left or lost a job left for a better job or just wanted a change.

What makes a recruiter stay when the calls come?

The job itself. An agency can check whether its package holds up with our free Commission and Offer Benchmark, which shows where its package sits in the market and whether its offer is strong enough to attract the recruiters it actually wants.

• A commission structure they understand and can check.
• Desk ownership: their clients, their market and a say in the desk’s direction.
• A visible next step, such as billing lead, team lead or opening a new data or cyber vertical.
• Regular, real manager time.
• Recognition, and a stay conversation held before a resignation, not after.

Research summarised by the SHRM Foundation, an affiliate of the US Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), finds that performance-based rewards can increase retention among high performers, and that relationships with supervisors are an important driver of turnover. Its 2008 guide also finds top performers with visible results are more at risk of leaving, per its research on retaining talent. Billers’ results are easy to see, so on our reading that applies to agencies.

Talent leaders at tech companies face the same calls, from agencies and from other tech companies. The same levers apply to an in-house recruiting team.

What can an agency do about outside approaches?

It can’t control other firms’ calls, and it shouldn’t try to agree with competitors to stop them. The answer is the job, plus cover on desks that depend on one person.

A no-poach agreement is one between businesses not to recruit, solicit or hire each other’s workers. As at 30 October 2026, the draft Bill’s no-poach ban would make these agreements a form of cartel conduct, as law firm Allens explains. One business deciding on its own not to hire from a competitor would not be caught. The draft is not law.

For example, two agencies with tech desks that informally agree not to approach each other’s consultants would be making the kind of arrangement the draft targets.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Which clauses still protect an agency today?

Restraint clauses are generally regulated by the common law. A restraint may be lawful and enforceable if it is reasonable and goes no further than necessary to protect a legitimate business interest, according to Treasury’s draft explanatory materials.

• Non-compete: a term that restricts an employee from seeking other employment or being involved in another business after the employment ends.
• Confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement (NDA): protects confidential information, such as a candidate database, rather than stopping someone working.
• Client non-solicitation: a restraint aimed at protecting client relationships, such as the clients on a contract cloud desk.
• Co-worker non-solicitation: a term that restricts or prohibits an employee from recruiting, or trying to recruit, a co-worker or former co-worker.

The Fair Work Act doesn’t set any rules for non-compete clauses, and the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) suggests seeking legal help, in its guidance on employment contracts.

This is general information, not legal advice.

What would the proposed non-compete ban change?

As at 30 October 2026, the ban isn’t law. In September 2026 the Government released exposure draft legislation to ban non-compete clauses, with a pay threshold deciding who is covered. The draft explanatory materials set the line at earnings at or below the Fair Work Act high income threshold, $190,100 for the year ending 30 June 2027.

Treasury’s consultation on the draft Bill closed on 2 October 2026. The Bill still has to be introduced and passed by Parliament, and it could change. The draft would:

• ban co-worker non-solicitation clauses for all employees, regardless of income
• allow remaining restraints only to protect confidential information or client relationships, and only if reasonable
• ban cascading restraints, which set out multiple alternative areas or time periods
• leave targeted confidentiality terms, notice periods, fully paid gardening leave and retention arrangements outside the non-compete ban
• stop maintaining a stable workforce counting as a legitimate business interest

The draft says existing restraints would keep applying unless the employment arrangement is varied. For example, a team lead on a software desk earning at or below the threshold would fall within the proposed non-compete ban. Once the final Bill is known, review templates with an employment lawyer.

This is general information, not legal advice.

What should an agency do when a top biller resigns?

Find out why, and counter-offer only if the reason is something the agency can fix. Then agree a handover and client communication within the contract’s notice terms.

Respect the contract both ways, with no threats. On a contract tech desk, that includes planning who looks after live contractors and their clients.

Then plan the replacement. If a Rec2Rec helps, our fees guide explains how Rec2Rec fees work. To make the next hire stick, read how to hire recruiters who stay.

How MGP can help

MGP headhunts proven, currently-billing recruiters for agencies, including tech desks, when a desk needs cover or a replacement, with a six-month like-for-like replacement guarantee counted from the hire’s start date, as long as the client pays on time (redundancy and restructure aren’t covered). Managed Growth Partners (MGP) is a tech-led Rec2Rec firm that helps tech recruiters find their next role, confidentially and at no cost to them. To talk about a desk, book a call.