Doing work not in the job profile

[northernladuk]

That's a good get out clause actually. Sorry I'm only insured to do what's in my deliverables. Complete rubbish but it's better that'll saying, no that makes me look like a permy and ill end up paying more tax

And they will know it is complete rubbish and you will look like an idiot. You don't have to say that last line, you negotiate yourself in to a win win position and get another set of deliverables and run them concurrently.

[GB9]

When I started reading I thought you were going to say they had asked you to pick pears. As the core skill would still be picking, I wouldn't see that as too much of an issue. However, rowing is completely different. You should really get an additional contract to cover yourself and if possible, do both pieces of work concurrently. Can you pick and row at the same time?

[Wanderer]

It feels a bit petty refusing to do it, but I want to understand if doing 2 days of non related work would be a really bad idea.

Pffft. "I will work for money" is my motto.

If they are paying me then I will do the needful so long as it's a highly skilled job - I'm not there to be a general dogs body and gopher so if they asked me to work in the canteen for a few days then I would tell them to piss off.

[jamesbrown]

If this is likely to get you further work, you could also decide to complete the 2 days without billing. It's quite common to do some proof-of-concept work without fully recovering the costs and is IR35 positive, if anything. If it's clearly outside-of-the-scope of your current contract, I wouldn't try to squeeze it in, and it may not be worthwhile doing the paperwork for a couple of days work.

[Untouchable1]

Thanks for all your responses.

In the event I decided to explain the situation to them in full, from a contractors perspective. They completely understood and it was not an issue whatsoever.

Another client may have been less understanding - but even so, I think that this is the right way of handling it - firm and honest.

No river rowing for me!

Untouchable1

[northernladuk]

Thanks for all your responses.

In the event I decided to explain the situation to them in full, from a contractors perspective. They completely understood and it was not an issue whatsoever.

Another client may have been less understanding - but even so, I think that this is the right way of handling it - firm and honest.

No river rowing for me!

Untouchable1

Nice and I think we all have a duty to keep banging this one. For every contractor that bows to this the clients attitude changes towards contracting as a whole and starts getting harder and harder for us. I don't think larger clients will have a problem though, I mean, try getting Infosys or Cognizant to do something a little off plan. First response to the question will have a highly inflated dollar number on it so they should be used to it. If a bit of extra contract paper is all that is required for you I think the client would see that as a win.

If the client doesn't understand what you are saying to them I would take a stab and say this will be tip of the iceberg regarding attitude to contractors and I would start getting worried about IR35 and what else they are not willing to understand. I would guess it would be quite obvious in their attitude though.

[jamesbrown]

Yes, good outcome, appropriately handled.

[ShandyDrinker]

Nice and I think we all have a duty to keep banging this one. For every contractor that bows to this the clients attitude changes towards contracting as a whole and starts getting harder and harder for us. I don't think larger clients will have a problem though, I mean, try getting Infosys or Cognizant to do something a little off plan. First response to the question will have a highly inflated dollar number on it so they should be used to it. If a bit of extra contract paper is all that is required for you I think the client would see that as a win.

^I agree with this.

If the client doesn't understand what you are saying to them I would take a stab and say this will be tip of the iceberg regarding attitude to contractors and I would start getting worried about IR35 and what else they are not willing to understand. I would guess it would be quite obvious in their attitude though.

But in this case what would you do if the client doesn't understand or is unprepared to change their stance? Would you take the ultimate step and be prepared to terminate the contract if the client insisted you undertake work not within the scope of the contract?

[kingcook]

^I agree with this.



But in this case what would you do if the client doesn't understand or is unprepared to change their stance? Would you take the ultimate step and be prepared to terminate the contract if the client insisted you undertake work not within the scope of the contract?

IMO the best thing would be to let them terminate the contract if they wish to (do not terminate the contract yourself - you have done nothing wrong).

[ShandyDrinker]

IMO the best thing would be to let them terminate the contract if they wish to (do not terminate the contract yourself - you have done nothing wrong).

Interesting response.

As some people on here say that you shouldn't terminate a contract as it is considered bad form, I've always considered having the contract terminated in this way as bad form but I understand exactly what you are saying in that you have done nothing wrong. Situations like this are always bad as there will undoubtedly be ill feeling on the part of either the client (thinking that the contractor is not flexible enough) or the contractor (being pushed into doing something not stated in the contract).