Temp placements referrals - would you pay commission?

Hi, I am new daycare in BC and am trying to fill in the spots now. I'm already advertising here, and on craigslist and on FB, and am registered with CCRR.

So this company approached me last week and offered to work together.
Their offer is that they'll refer families to me for short-term temp. placements for 1-2 weeks, 1-2 days, or even 2-3 hrs/day while I have spots available. And as I am going to become full, they'll still be helping out filling-in temp. vacancies (such as a kids absent due illness, or on vacation, or a temp empty spot until filled with FT/PT which of course I'd prefer) with their referred families [based on my availability of course]. They are working with families with kids travelling to Canada to study who need temp. daycare accommodations + they say they also have connections to FB groups of local parents looking for short-term last minute arrangements.

This sounds like a good option to work with them until I'm full. Definitely very tempting as this is extra income that otherwise I wouldn't have... But of course this company wants to charge a "referral fee" between 10-20% of my rate based on volume. And since these are short-terms and per/hr I technically could charge a bit higher rate to offset their commission...

Have anyone had any similar experience? Are you working with any such private referral service? Would you engage with such a service?
What did you pay? What would you pay? 10%? 15%? 20%? Would you set/increase your short term rates for this company specifically? Is it fair to their parents compared to other parents?

Thank you so much for the advise! Any insight will be much appreciated!

I personally would never consider this. Think about the impact on you and your regular full time children on having endless short term kids rotating through. It does not suit my personality to be in a constant state of transition.

It takes so much effort on our part to settle new children into care.

If you NEED the money them perhaps it is necessary but I would do all I could to avoid it. I would also be weary of the impression it might leave on my current families or families I am trying to attract.

I’m not fond of short term clients. I tend to avoid them if possible. It takes awhile to get new kids transitioned and a good group cohesiveness going, and routines and predictability.
I think you would constantly be in a state of flux, and so would the kids.
Not my thing, but to each their own. I also like maintaining my own control over the business and what money I’m handing out to outside agencies.

Absolutely not.

First, short term client's are not my preference. Transitioning any new child is the hardest part of that job so I would not even consider someone for 1-2 weeks let alone days or hours. The impact of this on your core client base is very disruptive and I would not risk losing full time, long term client's to gain a few days pay.

Even if this referral service was offering vetted long term client's, I would not pay a commission unless some criteria were met. As a minimum, they would have to be here for a full year before I'd even consider paying out a commission and even then, I don't think it's worth it.

- How do you now the quality of the potential client's they would be referring?
- How would you know that client's would be staying long enough to make the transition worth while?
- What sort of vetting are they doing to ensure these are suitable client's for your business to justify you needed to pay a finders fee?
- If they are newcomer's to Canada, then what assurances do you have that they have secured employment and have the finances to pay you?

There's no way I'd pay a finders fee under the circumstances you describe.

No I would not go for it as it will take away from the regular group . It may sound great right now as you are just starting out but in the long run it is very draining to you and the other children when you are set up.
What you could do is try it now and see if it suits you while you wait to fill your daycare with regular daycare children as it can take some time to fill all your spots.
GOOD LUCK