Finding out the rate being charged?

[northernladuk]

I found out recently that my much more experienced colleague is on almost £200 per day less than me.

And?

[heyya99]

And?

By default I'm cooler

[moneymoney]

Interesting to hear some people say you'd never find out (without accessing finance systems), and others have found out from client/agency.

Will speak to agency, but not holding much hope there.
I know someone on the client side who can probably assist if asked.

Plan is to have another offer on the table come renewal time, ask agency for increase citing reasons and examples (and other offer), if it comes to it, I'll happily walk

[LondonManc]

Interesting to hear some people say you'd never find out (without accessing finance systems), and others have found out from client/agency.

Will speak to agency, but not holding much hope there.
I know someone on the client side who can probably assist if asked.

Plan is to have another offer on the table come renewal time, ask agency for increase citing reasons and examples (and other offer), if it comes to it, I'll happily walk

You've more chance of finding out if they're not shafting you and are on a set rate (fixed percentage deal or set amount per day). Similarly if they're on a fixed percentage, they'd be keener to get you more because they get more as a result.

It's typically the ones that get a day rate figure from a client with no set commission scheme in place that will try to shaft you.

[Cirrus]

There is no simple answer to this.

Your agent or your manager might know and often will tell you.

On the other hand neither may know. I would suspect with big companies there are volume discounts etc which are not promulgated because it is of no direct interest to the manager or the agent and people don't know the 'price' until the end of the year.

In my experience of several decades, clients hate margin issues because of the hassle and argument it causes. Even though we on here are terribly mature you'd be surprised how much fuss other contractors will make if they find out their margin is more than they thought or they are getting £10 less than somebody else. As a client manager you really don't want to be bothered with all that playground whingeing (which I suppose is done on facebooks nowadays) so the tendency is to have small margins and consistent rates. Also remember some agencies get involved in HR processes which may attract their own charges on top. And of course if someone told you the ratebook is a 12% margin do not think that anybody has got 12% to potentially move in your direction, for a whole host of reasons.

And of course (2) I used to charge 40% margin but if a contractor turned around and said 'I want an extra 10%' then they were simply not renewed. Clients very rarely will push the point. You might be lucky but don't plan on it

[BolshieBastard]

I have been told, by both agent and client plenty of times, so I guess, your and my experience differs.

Yes, you can use the sledgehammer approach of, just say give me £xxx or I will leave, that is your choice.
It can also be a valid to approach it in a different way and explain that a role has substantially changed, or is going to change.



So you are "risk adverse" to becoming part and parcel, but, will take more money to stay on longer. Makes me laugh when I have read all the BS you have gone about, regarding this part and parcel issue, before.

Yes, you should shoot yourself in the head because you havent read my post correctly, have you (its perfectly clear what I wrote about rate increase and risk averse)? Talking bulltulip? Pot, kettle, black.

Go one, admit it to yourself, Im right under your skin

[Bee]

For what, to stay in post-traumatic shock.

[MrMarkyMark]

Go one, admit it to yourself, Im right under your skin

Nope, completely the opposite, actually.

[LondonManc]

If you want a rate rise, ask for it. You dont have to 'prove' you're 'worth it' as some suggest either. Ive told agents 'I want an extra £xx per day or Im leaving' when Ive previously been with the client for more than 12 months (not that often since IR35 came in as Im risk averse to being part & parcel of the organisation.)

If I didnt get the rate I asked for or could agree on with the agent, I left. Simple as.

Depends where you are. I've seen quite the opposite to that but that relies on you staying somewhere over 12 months (I personally see 24 months as the limit because it ties in nicely with other limits such as T&S).

[robinhood1]

Just thought I'd my own experience on this one, its been a particular bone of contention in the teams I've worked in.

In the contract before this one, there was 2 of us recruited to do the same role via the same agency.
A few days in, in general conversation, he asked me what rate I was, I told him £250, he said he was on £200. He was not pleased, he was much better than me, knew everything about everything! Turns out Agency had asked him what is lowest rate would be, he wanted to secure the contract so went in low. He was pretty cool about it, agency was annoyed that us contractors are discussing rates - dumb agency should have known if you recruiting people for the same team its bound to happen. None of us knew how much we were being charged out to the client though, we often wondered how much they would be making on top.

In my last contract, I joined a team with other contractors who had been there a few months already. First day at lunch, talk immediately turned to how bad this agency was. One of the guys said he was beaten down to £200 per day to secure the contract. He said the agency had basically told him if he wanted to secure the contract this would be the rate he would have to accept. He became quite friendly with the permie staff and managers and saw the paperwork what the agency were charging the client, £400 per day!, the agency were creaming off double! He was livid to say the least, the client didn't know how much the contractors were getting and thought he was getting close to £350. Because the contractor had become integral to the team and built up such morale within, the manager did not want to let him go and had a right go at the agency, the agency promptly put up his rate.

There really needs to be a lot more transparency of agency fees/cuts. The agency cut should be separate and not eat into the rate of the contractor. The current state of play only leads to a barrel load of issues.