Reed PS, Beware of their games

[globalpmo]

Hello Fellow Contractors - Just curious if others have had a similar experience with these jokers. They pitched me a 12 month contract, for which I interviewed twice and got the job only to be told in the 11th hour that it was a 3 month contract. I turned down another offer as I trusted Reed's verbal offer of 12 months. IMHO they are game players and are trying to pitch themselves as something that they are not. They try and market themselves as a PS organisation like BCG, but in reality they are nothing more than a body shop. Another nice plus: They want you to give a 4 week notice, but they only offer you a 2! I have added them to my black list. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice.....

[malvolio]

You're wrong on several counts there but I can't be bothered to argue. And for the last time, a contractor neither wants nor needs a notice period: when the job's done, the requirement changes or you cock up, you go home. It's what we do.

[lukemg]

Global, I suspect you may have over-reacted. 12 months from the off is virtually unheard of unless you have worked there before. The 3 months could easily have been extended and I would have used this to negotiate a higher rate going in. Might not even have been Reed pulling the strings.

[Generalist]

... a contractor neither wants nor needs a notice period: when the job's done, the requirement changes or you cock up, you go home. It's what we do.

Can't argue with your philosophy, but a contract by definition is meant to form a binding agreement and is not worth the paper it is written on if it can be terminated on a whim by one party. If the client wants a commitment to a notice period it is only fair that it is mutual - whenever I come across this I insist the contract is amended and so far I've not had a problem with getting this done.

[rootsnall]

If your are blackballing for a 3 month contract with 2 weeks notice then you are in for a tough time.

[Xenophon]

If your are blackballing for a 3 month contract with 2 weeks notice then you are in for a tough time.

Agreed.

[cojak]

I'd take it...

What do you do, btw?

[tim123]

Can't argue with your philosophy, but a contract by definition is meant to form a binding agreement and is not worth the paper it is written on if it can be terminated on a whim by one party.

It's not on a whim, it's on contractual agreement

If the client wants a commitment to a notice period it is only fair that it is mutual - whenever I come across this I insist the contract is amended and so far I've not had a problem with getting this done.

ISTM that as a contractor you provide the service that the client wants. It the cost that you have to pay to get twice as much in your pocket as a permi does. If you want permi T&Cs then work for a permi wage.

tim

[malvolio]

Once again, a notice period implies mutuality, since you can be paid for doing no work and that, as we all know, is not a good thing, remember?


The common trait among every newbie on this site (and quite a few regulars, sadly) is that they think in terms of contract duration, not contract deliverables. Get over that mental blockage and it all begins to make a lot more sense.

[Generalist]

ISTM that as a contractor you provide the service that the client wants. It the cost that you have to pay to get twice as much in your pocket as a permi does. If you want permi T&Cs then work for a permi wage.
tim

I was making a different point, that as a supplier of IT services it is not in my company's interest to have such uncertainty in the contract, which after all has been let for a fixed period of time. Hence the larger suppliers will always have a "termination for convenience" clause which means the client has to pay up of they decide to end it early. These aren't "permi T&Cs" they are sensible commercial arrangements (but that is not to say that contractor companies can always protect themselves in this way, especially with an agency in the middle).