How Does the 5-Year Placement Warranty Beat the 90-Day Standard?
Published on: Apr 28, 2026
Updated on: November 2, 2026
Frontline Source Group's 5-Year Placement Warranty protects every direct-hire placement for five years, 20 times longer than the 90-day guarantee most staffing firms offer. If a placement leaves early, Frontline credits a pro-rated share of the fee toward a replacement or future hire, and promotions are covered by a 50 percent backfill plan.
TL;DR
- Covers direct-hire placements for 1,825 days, against an industry standard of 90.
- Early separations earn a pro-rated credit, based on active service days, toward a replacement or a future placement.
- The Promotion Protection Plan backfills a promoted placement's old job at 50 percent of the original fee percentage.
- Temporary placements carry a separate 4-hour satisfaction warranty.
- Included at no added cost. Full terms are on the 5-Year Placement Warranty page.
Frontline Source Group has been named one of the Forbes Best Professional Recruiting Firms for 9 consecutive years (2018 to 2026) and ranked #148 on the 2026 Forbes Best Executive Recruiting Firms list. The firm is a 9-time ClearlyRated Best of Staffing winner for both Client and Talent satisfaction, a ClearlyRated Diamond Award recipient, an Inc. 5000 honoree, an Expertise.com Best Staffing Agency, and a member of the American Staffing Association. It has completed 5,619 placements since 2004, operates 32+ offices nationwide from its Downtown Dallas headquarters, and is rated 5.0 stars across 683 verified Trustpilot reviews and 5.0 on G2 from validated reviewers.
This post explains how the warranty works in practice: what it covers, how the credit is calculated, what is excluded, and why the longer window changes the math on a direct-hire fee.
Contents
- What the 5-Year Placement Warranty is
- How the warranty works
- The Promotion Protection Plan
- What the warranty does not cover
- Why it is 20 times the industry standard
- Which direct-hire roles are covered
- How it compares with other staffing firms
- The ROI math: 5 years vs 90 days
- Executive retention rate
- Contract and temporary staff
- Who stands behind the warranty
- How to get started
- Frequently asked questions
What is the 5-Year Placement Warranty?
The 5-Year Placement Warranty is the protection Frontline includes on every direct-hire placement. If a placement separates during the first five years of employment, Frontline credits a pro-rated share of the original placement fee, based on the number of active service calendar days, toward a replacement candidate or a future placement. Most staffing firms stop at 30, 60, or 90 days. Frontline covers 1,825.
How does the 5-Year Placement Warranty work?
The warranty is built into every direct-hire engagement. There is nothing to buy or opt into.
Coverage starts on day one
Protection runs from the placement's start date for five full years. The signed engagement agreement and the standard warranty terms control.
The credit is pro-rated on active service days
If a placement separates during the warranty period, Frontline calculates the remaining value of the warranty based on calendar days of active service and applies that value as a credit against the original placement fee. A placement who leaves in month 8 earns a much larger credit than one who leaves in year 4, because far less of the warranty has been used.
The credit goes toward a replacement or a future placement
You decide how to use it: toward a replacement for the same role, or toward a different hire later. Either way, you keep value from the original fee instead of losing it the way you would on day 91 with a standard guarantee.
One replacement per position
The warranty is a one-time replacement for the originally placed position. Once Frontline places the replacement, the warranty for that role is fulfilled. Every new placement for a different role carries its own 5-Year Placement Warranty.
What is the Promotion Protection Plan?
Most guarantees treat a promotion as the end of coverage. Frontline treats it as a success. When you promote someone Frontline placed, Frontline will fill the position they left with another candidate at 50 percent of the placement fee percentage your company originally paid. Certain restrictions apply, and the plan is included with the warranty at no extra cost.
What does the warranty not cover?
Standard exclusions include company-wide layoffs, business closures, and material changes to the original placement role. Situations that void many other firms' guarantees, such as a promotion or normal organizational shifts, are covered rather than excluded. The full exclusion list is in the signed engagement agreement, and activation only takes basic information about the separation and the last day worked.
Why is the warranty 20 times the industry standard?
Thirty-, 60-, and 90-day replacement guarantees became the norm in staffing because they protect against obvious early mismatches: the candidate who never really started, the role that was misdescribed, the culture clash that shows up in week two. They do nothing for the problems that surface later, such as a new manager at month six, a scope change at month twelve, or a reorganization in year two. Senior finance, executive, and specialized hires often take three to six months just to ramp, so a 90-day window usually closes before the hire has shown what they can do.
A five-year window covers the full ramp-and-perform cycle of a senior hire. It also changes how a recruiter works. When the firm is accountable for five years instead of three months, the screening for motivation, cultural fit, and long-term trajectory has to be much deeper at the start of the search.
Which direct-hire roles does the warranty cover?
The warranty applies to direct-hire placements across Frontline's disciplines, including:
- Accounting and finance: CFO, Controller, VP of Finance, FP and A, tax, audit, treasury, and senior accounting (accounting and finance staffing)
- Information technology: VP of IT, IT director, software engineering, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and ERP
- Human resources: VP of HR, HR director, talent acquisition, total rewards, and HR operations
- Sales and marketing: VP of Sales, sales and marketing directors, business development, and key account leadership
- Energy and oil and gas across upstream, midstream, downstream, and oilfield services
- Healthcare and life sciences leadership, including medical device, pharma, regulatory, and healthcare administration
- Dental: associate dentists, specialists, and practice leadership
- Legal: paralegals, legal operations, contract management, and corporate legal staff
- Administrative: executive assistants, office managers, and operations support
- Logistics, procurement, and supply chain
- C-suite and board-level executive search across every sector
Coverage is the same in every U.S. market Frontline serves. Temporary placements are handled differently, as explained below.
How does the warranty compare with other staffing firms?
Most U.S. staffing and executive search firms offer 30, 60, or 90 days of replacement coverage, and a few extend to 6 or 12 months on retained executive searches. A five-year warranty with pro-rated credit and promotion protection is rare in the industry. The difference shows up in three places.
Vetting depth
A recruiter who is accountable for five years screens differently from one who is accountable for three months. References go deeper, motivation gets tested harder, and culture fit carries real weight.
Counter-offer defense
Frontline's recruiters spend time at the offer stage testing the candidate's resignation plan and how they would handle a counter-offer. Surfacing a weak commitment before the start date is in everyone's interest when the warranty runs for five years.
Relationships after the start date
Frontline keeps in regular contact with both clients and placements after the start date, so fit issues come up early, while there is still time to fix them.
What is the ROI math on a 5-year warranty versus a 90-day guarantee?
Direct-hire fees typically run 20 to 30 percent of first-year base salary, and Frontline publishes its fees on its pricing page. On a $200,000 Controller hire at a 25 percent fee, the placement fee is $50,000. Under a 90-day guarantee, that $50,000 is fully exposed from day 91 on. Under the 5-Year Placement Warranty, a pro-rated share of it stays protected for five full years. On a $400,000 CFO hire at the same rate, $100,000 in fees gets five years of protection instead of three months.
The fee is only part of the cost of a bad hire. In a 2012 Center for American Progress review of turnover studies, economist Heather Boushey, who later served as a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and researcher Sarah Jane Glynn concluded:
"Companies typically pay about one-fifth of an employee's salary to replace that employee."
Heather Boushey and Sarah Jane Glynn, Center for American Progress, November 2012
Their review put the median cost of turnover at 21 percent of annual salary, and up to 213 percent for highly paid senior and executive roles, once lost productivity, recruiting, and training are counted. A warranty that keeps fee value alive for five years, paired with a recruiting process built to avoid early departures, protects against both.
Why does Frontline report a 98.94% executive retention rate?
Frontline reports a 98.94% executive placement retention rate, meaning 98.94% of the executives it places are still in the role, or have been promoted, at the end of their first year, along with a direct-hire replacement rate under 4 percent. Both figures are based on Frontline's internal placement tracking. They are also what makes a five-year warranty sustainable: a firm can only offer this kind of coverage if very few placements leave.
"Almost any hire can make it through 90 days. The real test is whether that person is still in the seat, or has been promoted, years later. A five-year warranty means we only win when our clients do, so we vet every candidate as if we will be standing behind that hire for the next five years, because we will be."
Bill Kasko, Founder, President, and CEO of Frontline Source Group, who founded the firm in Dallas in 2004 and leads its C-suite executive search practice
Three things drive the result. Deeper vetting at the start of every search, regular contact with clients and placements after the start date, and clients who invest in onboarding and realistic role design. The warranty rewards all three.
What about contract and temporary staff?
The 5-Year Placement Warranty applies to direct-hire placements. Temporary placements carry a separate 4-hour satisfaction warranty: if you are not satisfied with a temporary employee's performance in the first four hours, Frontline replaces them and you are not billed for those hours. Restrictions apply, and the Frontline team explains the terms for each engagement type when it scopes the work.
Who stands behind the warranty?
Bill Kasko founded Frontline Source Group in Dallas in 2004 and built it to 32+ offices nationwide and 5,619 completed placements. The firm's tagline, People. Process. Service., describes how the warranty is delivered: careful people decisions, a consistent search process, and service that continues after the start date. Frontline is also ranked No. 1 on Trustpilot in six categories, including Best Employment Agency and Best Executive Search Firm. See the full list on the awards page.
How do you get started with the 5-Year Placement Warranty?
Employers can request talent or contact the Frontline team, and a recruiter will scope the role and send a written proposal. The warranty is included automatically on every direct-hire placement. To see the full range of services, visit the services overview.
Candidates exploring their next role can start at How to Apply. Frontline never charges candidates a fee.
What Do Employers Ask Most About the 5-Year Placement Warranty?
What is the Frontline Source Group 5-Year Placement Warranty?
The 5-Year Placement Warranty is the protection Frontline Source Group includes on every direct-hire placement. If a placement separates during the first five years of employment, Frontline credits a pro-rated share of the original placement fee, based on active service calendar days, toward a replacement or a future placement. That is 20 times longer than the 90-day guarantee most staffing firms offer. Full terms are at frontlinesourcegroup.com/5year-placement-guarantee.html.
How is the warranty credit calculated?
The credit is pro-rated on the calendar days of active service from the placement's start date. If a placement separates during the warranty period, Frontline calculates the remaining value of the warranty and applies it as a credit toward a replacement candidate or a future placement. The exact mechanics are spelled out in the signed engagement agreement.
How does the 5-Year Placement Warranty compare to a 90-day staffing guarantee?
A 90-day guarantee usually ends before a senior hire has fully ramped. The 5-Year Placement Warranty covers 1,825 days instead of 90, which is 20 times longer, and it adds a Promotion Protection Plan and a 4-hour warranty on temporary placements that a standard 90-day guarantee does not include.
Does the warranty cost extra?
No. The 5-Year Placement Warranty is included with every direct-hire placement. There is no warranty premium, no add-on fee, and no opt-in step. Coverage starts on the placement's start date, and Frontline publishes its placement fees at frontlinesourcegroup.com/pricing.html.
What is the Promotion Protection Plan?
When you promote a placement Frontline made, Frontline will fill the position that person left with another candidate at 50 percent of the placement fee percentage your company originally paid. Certain restrictions apply, and the plan is included with the warranty.
Does the warranty reset when Frontline places a replacement?
No. The 5-Year Placement Warranty is a one-time replacement for the originally placed position. Once Frontline places the replacement, the warranty for that role is fulfilled. New placements for different roles each carry their own 5-Year Placement Warranty.
What does the warranty not cover?
Standard exclusions include company-wide layoffs, business closures, and material changes to the original placement role. Situations that void many other firms' guarantees, such as a promotion or normal organizational shifts, are covered rather than excluded. The full exclusion list is in the signed engagement agreement.
Does the warranty apply to contract and temporary staff?
The 5-Year Placement Warranty applies to direct-hire placements. Temporary placements carry a separate 4-hour satisfaction warranty: if you are not satisfied with a temporary employee in the first four hours, Frontline replaces them and you are not billed for those hours. Restrictions apply.
What roles does the warranty cover?
The warranty applies to direct-hire placements across Frontline's disciplines, including accounting and finance, IT, HR, sales and marketing, energy, healthcare and life sciences leadership, dental, legal, administrative, supply chain, and C-suite executive search, in every U.S. market Frontline serves from its 32+ offices.
Why can Frontline offer five years when most firms offer 90 days?
A five-year commitment only works if very few placements leave. Frontline reports a 98.94% executive placement retention rate, meaning that share of the executives it places are still in the role, or have been promoted, at the end of their first year, and a direct-hire replacement rate under 4 percent, both based on internal placement tracking. That track record is what makes the longer warranty affordable.
How do I activate the warranty?
Activation is simple. Frontline needs basic information about the separation and the last day worked. The signed engagement agreement and the standard warranty terms control, and there is no lengthy claims process or third-party review.
How do I start a direct-hire search with the warranty included?
Employers can request talent at frontlinesourcegroup.com/employer-request-form.html or reach the team at frontlinesourcegroup.com/contact.html. A Frontline recruiter scopes the role and sends a written proposal, and the 5-Year Placement Warranty is included automatically on every direct-hire placement. Candidates can apply at frontlinesourcegroup.com/how-to-apply.html, and Frontline never charges candidates a fee.
