Equal Experts

[TheGreenBastard]

Anyone had a contract via Equal Experts?

Do they allowed contracting via Ltd. or by their own umbrella / payroll?

[m0n1k3r]

Anyone had a contract via Equal Experts?

Do they allowed contracting via Ltd. or by their own umbrella / payroll?

Own Ltd. They are an IT consultancy that relies on contractors alone. Only the founders, an in-house recruiter and one or two admins are on payroll. They claim to be 'fully' agile but are not, and their culture can be a bit toxic, frequently alienating customers as well as other suppliers and some of their contractors. They wanted to achieve fast growth, and they have succeeded as they are on one or two fast growth company lists (the Times's I believe, and some other one).

There are a few other similar consultancies (with a far better understanding and track record of agile) and with a bit of a better mix between perm and proper associates.

[TheGreenBastard]

Thanks for the response, the toxic part is a bit scary after my last gig! Might give this one a miss.

[cojak]

A proper SME consultancy will have the owners as senior consultants working with clients at an appropriate level.

Anything else is just a body shop.

[eek]

Most of their clients seem to be public sector and I wouldn't fancy being there come April

[cojak]

Most of their clients seem to be public sector and I wouldn't fancy being there come April

If that's the case they may have to start employing people in order to keep the contracts.

[TheGreenBastard]

If that's the case they may have to start employing people in order to keep the contracts.

This is another concern, it's a gov project. Would the middleman consultancy create a barrier for IR35, vs direct gov contracts? Probs not?

[SlipTheJab]

This is another concern, it's a gov project. Would the middleman consultancy create a barrier for IR35, vs direct gov contracts? Probs not?

I imagine the government legal bods have got that angle covered, otherwise its a gaping big hole that everyone will be running into!

[eek]

I imagine the government legal bods have got that angle covered, otherwise its a gaping big hole that everyone will be running into!

It's covered. Doing the same job as Government Employees are (and Equal Experts are) you're hit by IR35. Plus I really don't think the company would take the risk of being hit for the tax if it went to tribunal (and under the new rules the agency / consultancy is liable)...

[original PM]

We currently have quite a few bods from EE on site.

I am not sure about a toxic culture although as a developer you are most definitely a resource to be squeezed for every last drop of productivity.

Do they do true agile?

Well I am sat in a room surrounded by many sprint plans etc etc on the walls so I think that will come down to your interpretation of what 'Agile' is.

In terms of alienating the customer - they tell it how it is - so if as customer you only like to hear what you want to hear and are not really interested in the truth then yes you may well be alienated.

The situation we are in however is that these guys have been bought in by the new MD and Ops director mainly to shake up the rest of the board who have become fat n lazy and in this instance their 'abrasive' approach works quite well.