Indeed Agency Contracts and THE CLAWBACK

Happy 2026 Job Board Doctor friends! I hope this finds you all well, rested, and starting the new year blessed.

As many of you know, Chad and I are in the process of making our move to Portugal permanent. The good news is I am off across the pond next week, so bear with me if the next couple of weeks’ content is a bit shorter than normal.

On my brain this week:

More Indeed updates: agency contracts and THE (dreaded) CLAWBACK
The recruitment marketing agency dilemma
My 2026 prediction and request

Over the past several weeks, I have become hyper-focused (obsessed?) on the changes Indeed has been making to continue their market dominance and add down-funnel dollars to their coffers.

If you want to catch up on that content, and I hope that you do, here it is.

I don’t think it is any secret that I believe Indeed is a real and present danger to our industry and our livelihoods.

My wrap up on Indeed was supposed to be short this week and mixed with other news, but alas here we are.

Indeed Agency Contracts and The Clawback

I will give Indeed kudos; they definitely have recruitment marketing agency leaders squarely under their thumbs.

The limited amount of information sharing, even between each other, appears to have disappeared under finger-wagging from Indeed reps.

However, adamant as that finger-wagging was, I still have some updates for you this week.

Based on many conversations I have had over the last six months with agencies, they believed they would be provided a means by which to “earn back” their lost commission.

Let’s model some of this out and see where we land.

Because agencies have their own tiers and commission structures, let’s use a hypothetical agency with a hypothetical commission structure.

Please note all of my numbers are for illustrative purposes only, so don’t come at me.

The Set Up:

Agency ABC is a top-tier agency (according to Indeed), and their commission structure in 2025 was 15%. For 2026, Indeed has changed their plan, dramatically.

Agency ABC 2026 Indeed Commission and Incentive Plan

Scenario #1) Domino Microchip Company, a long-time client

Agency ABC allocates $100,000 of Domino Microchip Co.’s 2026 recruitment marketing budget to Indeed Sponsored Jobs, and Domino has already been forced into Indeed Apply by their ATS provider.

Agency ABC’s earnings for this account would look like this:

Great! Agency ABC knows that the Indeed Apply integration is well adopted by their clients, and they slip slowly back into complacency, just as Indeed intended.

Scenario #2) Domino Microchip Company Gets Upsold

Indeed has given Agency ABC real incentive to sell Indeed’s annual subscription products.

Domino’s agency rep suggests using Indeed’s beta AI solution, Advanced Screening.

To add this to Domino’s contract, the agency rep (with Indeed’s help) determines that based on the average of Domino’s prior years’ job posting volume they will have 500 Sponsored Jobs utilizing the Advanced Screening beta.

Based on this calculation, Advanced Screening is provisioned as part of the annual Indeed contract, adding an additional $50,000.

Now Agency ABC’s commission looks something like this:

Alright! Alright! Alright! So now, Agency ABC is really winning.

Until 2027, when Indeed decides to change the rules again. Perhaps next year, agencies will only be paid on revenue above 2026.

Any UK agencies want to weigh in here?

Scenario #3) Checkers Global Equity Corp, a newly acquired client of Agency ABC

Agency ABC successfully closes Checkers Global Equity Corp. Checkers has been on a hiring spree, as the retail-focused investor brokerage firm has been riding high as the U.S. markets continued expansion through 2025.

Checkers’ TA team spent $1MM on hiring in 2025, and while the team plans on continued expansion, they know it is time to seek professional support.

Logically, Checkers turns to Agency ABC to support the team in hiring in a more cost-effective manner.

In 2025, Checkers’ spent $800,000 of the recruitment marketing budget directly with Indeed.

Agency ABC knows they have a responsibility to help Checkers’ team spend their budget in a more effective way, but there is a conflict brewing.

ENTER THE CLAWBACK

NEW in 2026, Indeed has instituted a revenue CLAWBACK scheme.

THE CLAWBACK Parameters: A direct Indeed client moves their Indeed spend to an agency.

If Checkers’ agency team allocates their $1MM budget so the corporation spends less on Indeed in 2026 than in 2025, Agency ABC may be subject to THE CLAWBACK.

NOTE: the spend number is based on net spend on Indeed through the agency, not gross.

So let’s take a look at a possible scenario.

Score! This is a big win, and the agency team has managed to upsell Checkers’ team on the value of the beta AI products. Now, Checkers is actually spending more at Indeed than they did last year.

But is it enough?

Remember, the net total has to be more than what Checkers spent directly with Indeed last year.

Math:

Gross spend increase: +$50,000
2026 net spend: $722,500
Decreased spend with Indeed: -$72,500

So unfortunately for Agency ABC, this big acquisition is now subject to THE CLAWBACK.

In fact, the entire 10% commission on the $850,000 in spend is available to be deducted from Agency ABC’s Q4 incentive payment to the tune of $85,000.

If there is less than $85k in the bucket, do they take more? It appears the answer for now is no. Indeed would not CLAWBACK more than what is available in that Q4 incentive payment bucket.

Note: This is an illustrative scenario.

Everyone seems to think they have some sort of special status with Indeed, so your CLAWBACK parameters may be different. I would love for you to tell me.

Food for Thought

Keep in mind, we haven’t even started to think about the predicament agencies could find themselves in if hiring decreases more than those subscriptions have been provisioned for.

Someone is on the hook, even if, let’s say, some unnamed person chooses to invade some obscure place like, let’s say, Greenland.

There are a lot of ways this could go sideways. I sold annual subscriptions, and I have lived it.

The Agency’s Dilemma

In 2026, Agency ABC is now facing multiple dilemmas: ethical, financial, reputational, and potentially legal.

Ethical: Can Agency ABC maintain their commitment to be the trusted advisor and partner to their clients? Or are they too beholden to Indeed to meet those commitments?

Financial: Agency ABC is only starting to comprehend that the current state of their Indeed contract is only valid for 2026.

How can an agency confidently model, hire, and invest in innovation without the ability to create financial models based on a predictable status?

Reputational: How can Agency ABC confidently sell unproven products?

The Indeed AI products are beta, so much so that some customers are using them for free.

If these beta products fail, or heaven forbid lead to legal jeopardy for a client company, decades of trust are lost in a moment.

Legal: Refer back to my disposition story from last week as a start, but Indeed’s AI terms and conditions are someplace we need to spend some time this year.

Is there legal exposure if Agency ABC is not fully educating their clients on the risks of giving a third party ownership of disposition data?

What about recommending an AI product that is unproven and the definition of black-box decision-making?

My 2026 Prediction

Tier 1 agencies will continue to live in the haze of complacency.

They have been gladly sold that 2026 will be better for them than 2025, by their Indeed reps, if they fall in line.

They will fail to plan for additional commission changes and demands in 2027, because the only way they can do that is to diversify away from Indeed in 2026.

Lower-tier agencies will be forced to close, merge, or hope for acquisition.

The financial predicament will become untenable. If there are agencies who have been zeroed out on Indeed commissions, do you join up with another small, but still Tier 1, agency? Maybe worth consideration.

Unfortunately, in 2026, Indeed is going to win. Agencies will lose, and there will be fewer of us in 2027.

I have one request: MAKE me wrong.

Until Next Time,

Julie “The Doc” Sowash

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P.S. As I move back on to some other stories that are making waves in our space, I will stay focused on continuing to share information I believe is vital to our community, and I hope you will continue to share not just Indeed content, but other relevant information, too.