Back to permieland - 1 month in

[PCTNN]

After a few (not many) years of contracting, I went back to permanent employment at the end of March. 1 month is not much but seems enough to start making an assessment of the situation and drawing some conclusions.

What's been good so far?

- I had forgotten how great flexi time was. I log in in the morning...a wee clock/timer starts. I log off in the afternoon...the wee clock stops. In a month I have already accrued 14 hours. 2 full days off I can take. And the company is chilled and easygoing about the flexi: we clock in, we then go for breakfast, THEN we start working.

- I needed a desk, chair and external monitor. Everything got delivered before my first day.

- Time for personal development is encouraged. When I don't have anything to do, I can read stuff or watch videos/tutorials and nobody raise any eyebrows. In my last couple of contracts it felt like any single minute of my day I had to have some work assigned to me. The mentality was "we pay X amount a day for this guy, let's squeeze as much as we can out of him".

- Yearly performance reviews and personal development plans aren't that bad. I haven't had a quarterly review and temp check with my manager so I can't speak for that, but I had a 30 minutes call with him about smart objectives and personal dev plan. Then I spent 1 hour writing them up and loading them into our hr system. And that was it. No need to do anything else for the next 11 months. I'll never understand why contractors are so bothered by these...


What's been not so good?

- Monthly pay sucks. I miss my weekly pay.

- E-learning training. There are new training modules every quarter and they're all awful. Dry, boring, badly structured. Did not miss them in the slightest.

- Team meetings and "social zoom fridays". I could escape them when I was a contractor; now I have to pretend I care about "Sara's new kittens".


Do I regret going permanent?

No, it was the right time. I was not enjoying being a contractor; I needed more stability and the lack of roles didn't make me feel stable and confident at all. For the first time, in 2020 I had 2 months on the bench and I was bored out of my mind. Didn't want to go through it again. Now there are even less contract roles than when I decided to go permie, so no regret whatsoever.


Next update when I hit the 6 months mark

[cwah]

only 2 months on the bench? It's not that bad. I've been in for over 6 months last year...

now the market seems to have somehow recovered a bit...

[northernladuk]

- Monthly pay sucks. I miss my weekly pay.

You paid yourself weekly from your LTD? Wow. Why?

Pay your first month in to another account. When it's in then set up a standing order in to your personal account weekly and hey presto weekly pay. Just have to not get paid your first month but then it's back to normal. Sorted.

[LondonManc]

There was mandatory quarterly training for all staff (perm, contract, consultancy) where I've contracted at times.

Loving my new perm role. Nice new desk chair provided for home, top of the line laptop with B&O speakers, welcome pack, etc.
Learning Thursdays, chilled attitude to work hours - get it done whenever you want that day, so long as you're available for meetings between 10-4 (resulting in an absolutely tiny number of meetings outside that time). Social side is meant to be kicking back in over the summer too.

As much as I miss the variety of contracting, it's nice having a break from living out of a suitcase.

[PCTNN]

You paid yourself weekly from your LTD? Wow. Why?

Pay your first month in to another account. When it's in then set up a standing order in to your personal account weekly and hey presto weekly pay. Just have to not get paid your first month but then it's back to normal. Sorted.

My last 3 contracts were worked via umbrella so the pay was weekly.

[northernladuk]

My last 3 contracts were worked via umbrella so the pay was weekly.

Send me your monthly pay. I'll arrange weekly payments for not much more than the usual fees.

[PCTNN]

Send me your monthly pay. I'll arrange weekly payments for not much more than the usual fees.

Deal. Send me your banking info so I can set up the standing order

[cwah]

Send me your monthly pay. I'll arrange weekly payments for not much more than the usual fees.

My current umbrella fee is £20/week if I believe what they announced. (although I've been waiting for 1 months for them to pay me and still hasn't received anything)

But assuming a £20/week fee AND assuming a £10k monthly payout, that's £20*54 (week in a year) = £1080 charged in a year out of potentially £120k lent. So you are lending money at £1080/£120k = 0.86% interest rate.

It's actually a very good deal. You would find many contractors interested. Me included.

[edison]

You paid yourself weekly from your LTD? Wow. Why?

Pay your first month in to another account. When it's in then set up a standing order in to your personal account weekly and hey presto weekly pay. Just have to not get paid your first month but then it's back to normal. Sorted.

I worked at a gig a few years ago where the two people sitting opposite me used to pay themselves a dividend every week

[krytonsheep]

Do I regret going permanent?

The remote working that has come with permie roles has definitely made it more attractive.

I managed 3 months a while back (good salary, no commute as the office was close by) but each day I could feel the life being sucked out of me in increasing amounts. Absolutely soul destroying. As a contractor you feel like you're getting paid for your time, as permie you feel like you're being punished for doing something very wrong in a previous life. Obviously depends on the place/people/work.