Why did you get into contracting

[R6steve]

I notice how most of say you didn't do it for the money, but can I safely assume you all earn more than if you were an employee doing the same job?

Don't get me wrong, in the company I work for we're happy to pay contractors a good daily rate compared to their permanent counterparts.

[thelace]

I wanted to leave my previous company as I had a new "boss" foisted on me (bald but was ginger, you know the type - a chip on both shoulders).

I wanted to join current clientco, applied for permie jobs in the past but didn't get them as I was overqualified. They contacted me through an agency, would you come work for us as a contractor, we can't take on any permies, accountants, headcount, etc. and as I looked into the benefits of running my own business which is something I'd always wanted to do, I jumped at the chance.

I am a contractor, but am slowly building up my business and hope by the end of next year to have a couple of employees.

[R6steve]

Then take that as your starting point, as the rest of your post was entire nonsense you seem to have made up yourself. Also, the rest of your post seems to contradict the statement you're are making above: How can contractors best benefit your company?

So, what is it you want exactly? A reply to the above part of your post, or 1,000,000 posts on why individual contractors got into contracting - which is completely irrelevant to your question above (and leaves me with the deep suspicion that you are nothing like what you claim to be, and are in fact writing a guide to preclude contractors from ever being used in your company: i.e. they "couldn't find permie work", "will hate our company culture", "will hate our bosses", "only in it for the allure of money", etc., etc., as you have written in your post above.)

Nomadd

Hahahah nice post thanks, I thought there would be a little suspicion, after all I have zero posts.

However, no I don't hate contractors, I'm not on a mission to reduce the level of contractors (far from it actually), I'm not from the Revenue or working for the subversive organisation looking to bring down the UK government (or am I???). I'm just interested in why people decided to go contracting.

So. . . why did 'you' decide to go contracting?

[Underscore Pt2]

Always 3! The money though is another reason why i wouldn;t go back to permie.....

Its simple, those that can Contract..those that can't stay Permie.

[d000hg]

Its simple, those that can Contract..those that can't stay Permie.

What a crock.

[RichardCranium]

I notice how most of say you didn't do it for the money, but can I safely assume you all earn more than if you were an employee doing the same job?

Not necessarily. When in work, the hourly rate is greater than a permanent member of staff receives. Then deduct bench time and tax and costs. Doing it for the money is often the wrong reason.

Don't get me wrong, in the company I work for we're happy to pay contractors a good daily rate compared to their permanent counterparts.

You are adding employment costs to the salary to understand what it really costs to employee a permie, aren't you? And the savings you make on things you never pay a contractor (redundancy, sick, holiday, bonuses, training, etc.) Employing a contractor is usually cheaper than employing a permie. That's why organisations do it.


You do seem to have one agenda: money and the cost of employing contractors.

[expat]

I notice how most of say you didn't do it for the money, but can I safely assume you all earn more than if you were an employee doing the same job?

Not always, and when we do, it is often due mainly to costs being borne by the contractor rather than the client: the contractor then puts a lot of effort into minimising these costs, and profits from that. For example, if you employ me and send me away on business, I will want a decent hotel. If it's my money, I want a cheap hotel!

By the way I don't think there is much to be gained by discussing the exact term for our activity, and I note that most of us are called contractors now, but we were all called freelancers when I started over 30 years ago. I suspect that the term has fallen from use because it carries the implication that the person is responsible for his own work, and perhaps clients and agents do not like that idea.

[dang65]

I was a permie for about 15 years. My last permie employer was one of those dotcom boom companies which failed. One of the other developers there got a contract job and called me to see if I wanted to work at their new place as well, and I went for it. So, I kind of fell into contracting, but now I wouldn't look back and wish I'd done it years before. The good things:

1. Freedom from corporate regulation and office politics.
2. The self-motivation which comes from pressure to prove yourself professionally, which is something I hardly ever felt as a permie, though I've never really figured out why that would be.
3. The variety. Obviously you can change jobs as a permie if you want, but the little extra incentive of having to change jobs routinely when contracts end means you do it a lot more often and it keeps everything fresh, with new skills to be learned, new places to explore, new people to meet.
4. The freedom to organise your own pay to a far greater extent. This gives me a lot of flexibility. I can take a high paid contract somewhere in Europe for a few months, then a relatively low rate local contract for a year, and keep paying myself the same salary all the way through, or give myself a pay rise if times are hard.

[R6steve]

Not necessarily. When in work, the hourly rate is greater than a permanent member of staff receives. Then deduct bench time and tax and costs. Doing it for the money is often the wrong reason.

You are adding employment costs to the salary to understand what it really costs to employee a permie, aren't you? And the savings you make on things you never pay a contractor (redundancy, sick, holiday, bonuses, training, etc.) Employing a contractor is usually cheaper than employing a permie. That's why organisations do it.


You do seem to have one agenda: money and the cost of employing contractors.

Only due to the fact that permanent employees have a huge long term cost -salaries, taxes, pensions or even the cost of a pension provision, sick pay (contractors rarely get sick), holiday pay plus the cost of keeping employees happy. Also there is a massive recruitment cost and process bringing on a new employee above and beyond that of a contractor, we run assessment days for all employees which costs a fortune plus HR stick their nose in and also want to also interview the employees.

Contractors are far simpler, more mobile, flexible, professional (most are anyway) and skilled - most contractors are at least one skill level higher than the employee doing a similar job.

Employees are way more demanding, I recently heard one say 'you know, I've been here for 20 years and do you know what they gave me for long service? NOTHING! Not even a cash bonus or a friggin clock'. Why on earth would the company do that? I would assume the 20 years monthly pay and 500 days paid holiday leave this chap would have received, would have been payment enough. Like I said in my first post, the days of a job for life are over.

[Underscore Pt2]

What a crock.

Really? In every org i work in i find it to be full of permies who lack in skills adn more importantly the balls to actually deliver work. Don't get me wrong I've also met plenty of contractors like that.....but tehy dont last for long. Being a contractor forces you to up your game or you get the push....Permies can sit in the same seat for 20 yrs doing the square root of nowt!