State of the Market

[ContractorHardman]

Having just been diagnosed with autism, tempted to change company pitch... "Hey, clients, why offshore for a crap service when you can hire this company and tick your disability boxes at the same time"...

As someone who is Autistic, I leave this off the CV, Agenda and Forms. You don't know how educated the client is about the subject. I was working in a major bank as a permie where the manager said he would need to manage me through my disease. I said "Its not a disease, I can't exactly call up tomorrow morning and say I can't come in, I am Autistic". The sad thing is Autism is still misunderstood in society and especially in the work place. There is different perceptions of it.

Be careful about telling people in the opening stages because discrimination is very real out there.

Lastly, as a contractor, you dont really tick any box for race, sexuality and disability. You are not an employee which is another reason to follow the above.

[perplexed]

As someone who is Autistic, I leave this off the CV, Agenda and Forms. You don't know how educated the client is about the subject. I was working in a major bank as a permie where the manager said he would need to manage me through my disease. I said "Its not a disease, I can't exactly call up tomorrow morning and say I can't come in, I am Autistic". The sad thing is Autism is still misunderstood in society and especially in the work place. There is different perceptions of it.

Be careful about telling people in the opening stages because discrimination is very real out there.

Lastly, as a contractor, you dont really tick any box for race, sexuality and disability. You are not an employee which is another reason to follow the above.

I'm aware of all that, was being facetious. Given it's deemed a disability there are legal protections in the workplace, even for contractors.

[OwlHoot]

Fellas, I need a bit of advice.

I am currently in a contract which is inside IR35. Damn IR35 almost halves my daily rate! This is also the first time that I have worked inside IR35. I have been in this contract for just over a year and the client generously keeps renewing my contract.
BUT, I am working with freshies, who have landed the roles in my team due to incompetent hiring process ( one phone interview and you got the job ) , who can't follow basic instructions and don't have much experience but walk around with the air that they should be the CTO's of the place!

I am thinking of leaving this contract. Will it be a good idea to leave now in this COVID era? Or, just be grateful that I am getting paid and carry on till mid next year when post COVID and post Brexit situation will improve.

The part I highlighted in bold is the correct answer (although you could be looking for another contract at the same time)

[DimPrawn]

And this extends to the UK arms too. In a previous perm role (and a few years ago now), I sat in our our annual sales conference (with thousands of others) for a large US company with offices world-wide where the CEO effectively told people they were not enough females and minorities in senior/middle-management positions and positive discrimination was being introduced, and that policy had no geographic boundaries.

Of course, UK HR said it did not apply here due to our laws, but the happenings of the few months thereafter suggested differently.

Where I work, no white male has been hired in IT for at least 12 months. However we hired a ton of non-white, non-male employees. Maybe just co-incidence I don't know, but last 12 months has had one theme "Diversity matters" as the company focus.

[jayn200]

Where I work, no white male has been hired in IT for at least 12 months. However we hired a ton of non-white, non-male employees. Maybe just co-incidence I don't know, but last 12 months has had one theme "Diversity matters" as the company focus.

Depends where you live probably and what Industry. A little surprised about females being hired, it's been a long time since I worked with a female in a technical role. Lots of BAs and PMs though.

[elsergiovolador]

I'm aware of all that, was being facetious. Given it's deemed a disability there are legal protections in the workplace, even for contractors.

As a contractor you don't get any protections, even for disability. That is if you don't provide these yourself then all you can do is sue your own company.

[perplexed]

As a contractor you don't get any protections, even for disability. That is if you don't provide these yourself then all you can do is sue your own company.

Not true when on client site.

[elsergiovolador]

Not true when on client site.

That's at the client's discretion. It's your company's responsibility to make sure your needs where you work are addressed.
Client only need to make any reasonable adjustments that are necessary for any visitor.

[perplexed]

That's at the client's discretion. It's your company's responsibility to make sure your needs where you work are addressed.
Client only need to make any reasonable adjustments that are necessary for any visitor.

Well, I'll go with the advice of Autism charities.

[edison]

BS....

They track the information. But only if the employees allow it. That’s it though. It’s hard enough to find good staff, only public sector would ever consider limiting themselves with this sort of stupid tokenism.

I'm not so sure about that, you'd be surprised how woke HR is in big global corps.

Where I work, no white male has been hired in IT for at least 12 months. However we hired a ton of non-white, non-male employees. Maybe just co-incidence I don't know, but last 12 months has had one theme "Diversity matters" as the company focus.

There's a difference between having specific quotas and encouraging a more diverse workforce. There's a growing amount of research showing that organisations with more diverse workforces from Board level down, are better long term performers.

I doubt it's woke - many male senior IT leaders I know actively want to get more females in particular into IT. The main challenges are that a lot of young women perceive IT to be full of dull men doing unexciting work or that you need a STEM background to get into IT.