HSBC Contract Start

[BoredBloke]

Lot of people who don't know anything about HSBC on this thread... and a few who do.

First thing - their standard contract enforces no more than 220 chargeable days in a year plus at least one period of 'core leave' (which they enforce for all workers, regardless of permanent or contract) which is at least 10 days, in every 12 month period. I'm led to believe this is common in banking, as a fraud-prevention thing (because nobody can hide something they're doing for 2 full weeks - as an aside, permies can face a disciplinary if they so much as check their email on their phone during this core leave period. It's serious.) They often have 6 month contracts, but at this time of year it could be shorter because your contract might be taken up to financial year end i.e. 31st December. You probably won't be forced to take a 2 week core leave period for a contract shorter than a year, but if you get an extension you will be at some point in the next one. Plus they'll probably enforce a contractor shutdown over Christmas that'll cover it anyway (so be aware you'll probably lose 2 weeks in December).

Like I said, I asked the Resource solutions guy the specific question....would I be expected to take 4 weeks off within my 6 month contract and he said that I would. That was the basis of me rejecting the contract I had with them......and I was only a few days from starting. If he had told me that I wouldn't be expected to take time off, then I would have started and not left the manager having to look for another contractor and start the ball rolling all over again.

It still comes down to 220 working days per year out of a maximum of 365-104 = 261 means 41 non working days per year. So if they enforce the no more than 200 days thing then you are going to have to factor in 8 working weeks of down time. That has obvious rate implications and it's somewhat unfair to drop that clause on the contractor a few days before the start date. My RBS contract doesn't have that clause in it and neither have any of my other banking ones...a number of them via resource solutions

[MLB]

I’ve been @ Hsbc 1 week short of 6 mths and taken 3 non billable days out excl bank holidays. Contract via Reed, no terms in re max number of days to bill.

[BoredBloke]

I’ve been @ Hsbc 1 week short of 6 mths and taken 3 non billable days out excl bank holidays. Contract via Reed, no terms in re max number of days to bill.

For me the 220 days thing was the final straw. My main gripe was the length of time they took to do anything. With about 4 weeks left on my last contract I started looking. That's usually plenty of time to get things sorted, but not for HSBC

With about 2 weeks of my previous contract remaining I spotted a role at HSBC and applied. I was asked to attend an interview a couple of days later....1 week later I attended the interview.....1 week later I was told I'd got the gig.....one week later they gave me the formal offer - The manager was new to HSBC and they had to set him up on their system. So why not do that when you issue the role - it's a fairly safe assumption that the manager will be taking somebody on! I was told that the company who do the checks have an SLA of 3 weeks, but that it was likely to run to 4. I sent them everything they needed on the day the offer was made, tons of stuff. 3.5 weeks later I was told I'd passed their checks and the contract would be issued. That's when I spotted the 220 days thing. Taking into account that the job was away from home, a chunky drop in day rate and with no possibility of WFH, I was still prepared to do the role because I got on well with the guy who interviewed me and I would have been able to pick up a few extra skills. But having spent 5 weeks not billing while HSBC went about their checks at glacial pace, the fact he said I'd have to take another 4 weeks off in the next 6 months was the killer. I told them I wasn't going to sign on the Thursday and was due to start onsite the Tuesday.

FWIW at RBS - still in Edinburgh, WHF at least 2 days per week and not as big a rate cut. Background checks completed within 2 days!

[MLB]

I may have been lucky re the max days but my recruitment wasn’t standard. I imagine it depends on the project/team structure but they’ve been flexible re location and wfh too - clearly there are some big differences in the onboarding and working practices between the projects/depts.

[MrButton]

I wish my contracts would enforce 220 days max. And enforce a furlough.

Hopefully next year.

[fidot]

I wish my contracts would enforce 220 days max. And enforce a furlough.

Hopefully next year.

Why are you not enforcing it yourself? It's your business and you control the amount of time you work.

[MrButton]

Why are you not enforcing it yourself? It's your business and you control the amount of time you work.

It’s more because then I’ve got an excuse to give the wife for taking more time off.