UBS Rate Cut

[oliverson]

Not true, been through it so many times. Most will accept, some will negotiate better deals, some will refuse. I’ve refused every time, and never been shunted. I know a current PM there who has no rate reductions included in his contract as he was so fed up with it at various IBs.

Genius. Only problem is that when they tear up the contract, the term goes with it as well! lol.

[Jeebo72]

Genius. Only problem is that when they tear up the contract, the term goes with it as well! lol.

They can’t just tear up contracts. They can exit the contract under the terms of the contract. Of course most of the disguised employees that inhabit contracting in the IB world will just do what they are told. However, my mate was just making a point. He won’t accept rate cuts. They do have the option of termination, but he’s so in demand he’s happy to walk.

[SimonMac]

Problem is for every one guy/girl that makes a stand and declines the cut to terminate their contract they know there is 9 who will grumble and take the cut so playing the numbers game they are onto a winner

[oliverson]

Problem is for every one guy/girl that makes a stand and declines the cut to terminate their contract they know there is 9 who will grumble and take the cut so playing the numbers game they are onto a winner

Not to mention the timing. I mean, how many people will say stuff it at this time of year? Not only is there not much around or even if there is, everybody is in Xmas mode, so you could be on the bench for a couple of months easy. Let's say people are on a day rate of, I don't know, £ 500 (to make the maths easy for me). 2 months = around 40 billable days so that's £ 20k you'd just throw away only to say "told you so" when you walk. That's permie mentality not business mentality, unless you happen to be sat on a very large warchest. Who's to say the next role you land will be on the same or better rate as pre-cut anyhow? The more banks that cut and the more competition for roles, the less they put the roles out at. Grim, grisly business. No, the trick is to get paid while you're looking. Win, win. (just don't be looking for too long).

[Quagmire]

The big boys are just playing the market in sync, trying to see how much the little man can take. And he can take more (or, more precisely - less [-10%]) three weeks before Christmas, obviously

The question is, how many of those who accepted are going to be prompted to look for a different gig and how likely are they going to be to come back in future...

[eek]

The big boys are just playing the market in sync, trying to see how much the little man can take. And he can take more (or, more precisely - less [-10%]) three weeks before Christmas, obviously

The question is, how many of those who accepted are going to be prompted to look for a different gig and how likely are they going to be to come back in future...

or never go there in the first place. I am continually asked to join a particular project at a merchant bank and continually refuse due to their past form of such tricks.... Yes I could raise my rate by 25% to compensate but it still means London so meh....

[BolshieBastard]

They can’t just tear up contracts. They can exit the contract under the terms of the contract. Of course most of the disguised employees that inhabit contracting in the IB world will just do what they are told. However, my mate was just making a point. He won’t accept rate cuts. They do have the option of termination, but he’s so in demand he’s happy to walk.

Im not sure I believe this. I cannot believe a client (if direct) or an agency would pay much attention to a 'no rate cut' clause.

If they are applying a rate cut, they're doing it for a reason. So, unless you are critically essential to a project or are 'mates' with some senior bod, they'll just cut.

[financeguy]

From asking around onsite it appears that direct contractors are in a distinct minority. A lot of contractors are operating via consultancies (fdm,datainc,wipro,hcl to name a few) and aren't currently affected by this rate cut. For the last year or so ubs have been switching increasingly to using a consultancy model so that resources don't count as headcount. When they have 10000 jobs to cut this helps them hide headcount easier! Needless to say the Big 4 pimping out grads at 1000+ a day won't be taking a hit anytime soon either.

[Scrag Meister]

Welcome to the happy world of Finance contracting.

WCS

[Bluenose]

Not to mention the timing. I mean, how many people will say stuff it at this time of year? Not only is there not much around or even if there is, everybody is in Xmas mode, so you could be on the bench for a couple of months easy. Let's say people are on a day rate of, I don't know, £ 500 (to make the maths easy for me). 2 months = around 40 billable days so that's £ 20k you'd just throw away only to say "told you so" when you walk. That's permie mentality not business mentality, unless you happen to be sat on a very large warchest. Who's to say the next role you land will be on the same or better rate as pre-cut anyhow? The more banks that cut and the more competition for roles, the less they put the roles out at. Grim, grisly business. No, the trick is to get paid while you're looking. Win, win. (just don't be looking for too long).

Money and happyness are rarely linked but I will see your 20K loss by walking and consider what happened to me at RBS:

a) The problem I found was the notice period of current contracts at IB's means that you could lose a £15k invoice by walking for the next role paying 20% more - £600pd by your calculation example

b) The current behaviour of agents insists that you are immediately available otherwise, the chance of you being put forward are slim so see above.

c) I actually made money by walking and chewing the £20k loss by going immediately on holiday and doing my telephone interviews from there and bailing back to the UK for face-to-face, when I came back into new contract I was neutral over the financial year and had a suntan paid for by the rate increase. Next financial year I will be up even further.

d) The guys I know that did not throw in the towel are still there now, moaning they can't get an interview because of tulip notice period.

The other thing that got my goat was the timing, seems UBS playing the same card, just before the Christmas period. Well, I am sorry but its a middle finger from me on all counts and I won't be back because the rates you pay in Banking now are lower than other areas of the economy.