Kaplunk Manifesto

Every pound spent accessing talent is a pound not invested in talent.

A company hires someone on a £60,000 salary.
The recruiter receives £15,000.

The employee who does the actual work receives none of it.
Most people accept this without question.

But if that same £15,000 were invested in the employee through salary, training, wellbeing or development, it could transform their first year.

At Kaplunk, we call this hidden cost the Recruitment Tax.
And more employers are beginning to ask whether it still makes sense.

What Is The Recruitment Tax ?

The Recruitment Tax  is the significant recruitment agency fee paid by employers simply to gain access to candidates.

Most recruitment agencies charge between 15% and 30% of a candidate's first-year salary. For a £60,000 hire, that often means £9,000 to £18,000 leaving the business immediately.

Historically, agencies helped employers and candidates find each other.
Today, technology makes direct connection easier than ever.

As discussed in The Truth About Hiring, many traditional assumptions about recruitment no longer reflect the realities of modern hiring.

The Problem Recruitment Agencies Originally Solved

• Recruiters emerged because information was scarce
• Employers struggled to find candidates
• Candidates struggled to find opportunities
• Recruiters closed the gap

Today, employers have:

• Employer brands
• Career sites
• Professional networks
• Direct hiring platforms

This is one reason interest in the Direct-to-Employer Operating System continues to grow. When direct connection becomes possible, intermediary costs inevitably come under scrutiny.

Recruitment Agencies vs Direct         

The question isn't whether recruiters once added value.
The question is whether the same value still requires a fee worth thousands of pounds.

Direct-to-Employer Hiring enables:

• Direct employer-candidate relationships
• Greater transparency
• Faster communication
• Reduced hiring costs
• Better ownership of the hiring process

Instead of optimising for commissions, the model optimises for connection.

What Could £15,000 Do Instead?

Imagine recruiting ten employees.

A business could easily spend well over £100,000 in agency fees.

Now imagine investing that money in:

• Employee development
• Additional hires
• Better benefits
• Career progression
• Retention programmes

As explored in How Saved Recruiter Fees Transform Hiring, removing unnecessary recruitment costs creates opportunities that extend far beyond a single hire.

The question becomes:

Should that value leave the organisation at all?

The Future Of Hiring

The Rise of Ethical Hiring reflects a growing belief that recruitment should be more transparent, more efficient and more fair. As employers adopt Direct-to-Employer Hiring, the Recruitment Tax becomes harder to justify.

After all, if employers and candidates can connect directly, why should access come with a £15,000 bill attached?

Related Reading

• The Truth About Hiring  The Truth About Hiring
• The Direct-to-Employer Operating System The Direct‑to‑Employer OS 
• Recruitment Fees to Employees What If Recruitment Fees Went to Employees
• How Saved Recruiter Fees Transform Hiring How Saved Recruiter Fees Transform Hiring
• The Rise of Ethical Hiring The Rise of Ethical Hiring in 2026

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