Contract vs Permie - the financials

[oliverson]

I'm probably the last person I'd know who would consider becoming a permie but I'm just wondering. An agent has just phoned with a permie opportunity with a base of £ 80k. It's for a very well known investment. I dismissed it immediately but passed the info on to a permie at the client site. He started talking about how that company pay huge bonuses and the figures he was mentioned suggest that there are some permie roles that are more lucrative than contract roles, which is a rude awakening for me. Is this true? Has anybody been offered a permied role that is financially better than contracting?

I don't know whether it's my stage of life (early 40's) but I'm increasingly getting sick of chasing new work every 3 months or so, especially in the current climate. I'm also sick of never having any holiday (the only ones I get are 'enforced' holidays such as Xmas).

I know there are plenty downsides to permie work but I just need to know the financials please.

Thanks in advance

[Not So Wise]

Has anybody been offered a permied role that is financially better than contracting?

Yes, though before current crash last time was during the DotCom crash

In the good times the financials work out better for contractors, in bad times though our rates come down a lot (as do opportunities) while permies income generally remain the same.

So unless you do really well in the good times and ok in the bad times and manage your personal finances well in the long run (decade plus) it can work roughly the same

Currently there are a lot of permie roles offering better financial remuneration (taking everything into account) than equivalent contractor positions and this is unlikely to change until well after the recession is over and the over abundance of "contractors" (unemployed permies/just in it for the money people) is reduced. Then rates will go back up which will entice more permies "to go contracting to earn the big bucks" another crash will come and many will be forced to back permiedom or leave the industry.

It's the contracting worlds version of "boom and bust" cycle we seem to be stuck in

[deckster]

WHS. Quite apart from not being able to land a contract, the ones I was chasing earlier this year were a good 30% down on my last contract, and 50% down from my max about 5 years ago. I'm now comfortably esconsed in a permie role which, whilst it doesn't quite pay what my last role did and is some way off the glory days, is distinctly more than the rates being offered this year even without the pension, healthcare and other perks. I have no doubt that the pendulum will swing the other way in a couple of years, by which time I'll know whether I like being a permie again or not