Securing your contract work (when being asked what you want)

[shanti]

It's your responsibility as a professional (can you see what I've done there). When I ended a particularly grim contract I handed over a 45 page report documenting everything and made the PM and line manager sit down and go through it with me on the last day. They thought the meeting was to shake hands and say "Good Luck".

This one is fairly and squarely in your lap...

PS - Strike a deal??? If I was the Manager I'd put the word out in the company not to hire you again.

They'll black-mark you in anycase, if you suggest you want to leave it would have been seen as disloyal and your never back.

Contract terms of no-notice on the contractors side and 1 days notice on their side is, the kind of environment in which you are expected to work in (I know people have had worse). Luckily I got 1 days notice reciprocal before starting. I still got shafted, as they revoked contracts and I had to re-sign different terms or leave (notice period and rate stayed the same thankfully)

You may not know the deal here, everyone is pretty much expended (permie or contract) - we were being asked to work practically 24 hr days for a project which was potentially going to be slated in a couple of weeks time - everyone was dropping off like flies off the project. I guess I stuck it out until I had enough - gave in notice - did the notice and left as per contract. I was available to do anything they wanted during the notice period - but the manager sat on his hands and did not even tell anyone.

There is some contention of the 1 day notice, I understand providing notice in the morning (9.30am latest) means you are pretty much done by the day 6.30pm latest?

[TheFaQQer]

I should come up with something intelligent, or even witty to say, but you are exactly the type of charlatan that gives contractors a bad name. I hope the client sues you if you don't complete the work you should have done in your last day. As for 'blackmailing' them to keep you on, good luck...

You are either clueless or a shiester. When you leave you do a hand over to make sure that the client has everything that they need, if they don't have something they need you should really be supplying it.
...
I hope they sue your arse off for sabotaging their business, I'm sure that there will be a clause hiding away in your contract that makes you liable for losses caused by your negligence which this blatantly is!

Got to say, even by my own posting standards, I think both of those are harsh (and yours, cojak, to a certain extent).

Shanti had the right to give one days notice to terminate the contract, was not happy with the contract, and so gave that notice to leave. The client shouldn't have put the clause in the contract if they didn't expect that someday someone might want to exercise it. No doubt, it was put there by some clueless legal department bod who thought that if the agency want out, then give everyone a short notice period.

If management are not clued up enough to say "have we got everything we need from you?" before someone who has key information leaves a project, then that is a fundamental flaw in their management process. I don't believe that it is negligent of the contractor to do the work that they were meant to do on that last day - sure, Shanti could have been more professional and been a bit more proactive in terms of handing over, but on a one day notice then there's only so much you can do when management are expecting you to do your other work as well.

If, of course, Shanti deliberately hid the information, changed passwords etc. so that the client can't do their job, then I take that all back and hope that (s)he gets sued for it.

[cojak]

What irritates me FAQqer is that he's not straight with the client - he's game playing.

Quite simply, he's not very good at it. And he lost. Now if he shrugged, took it on the chin and used the experience to play better next time we'd probably look more favourably on how to play better next time.

But don't expect sympathy when you whinge that it all went t1ts-up.

My advice? Look at the possible consequences of your actions in the future and either don't do them or mitigate against them going wrong if you do...

[shanti]

Got to say, even by my own posting standards, I think both of those are harsh (and yours, cojak, to a certain extent).
If management are not clued up enough to say "have we got everything we need from you?" before someone who has key information leaves a project, then that is a fundamental flaw in their management process. I don't believe that it is negligent of the contractor to do the work that they were meant to do on that last day - sure, Shanti could have been more professional and been a bit more proactive in terms of handing over, but on a one day notice then there's only so much you can do when management are expecting you to do your other work as well.

Thank you - you get want you want in a contract, sign it, stick to it. Else manager's think they can take the p*ss.

I just don't know if I can be forced to go back in and do a hand over?

It seems they are threatening to with-hold payment due to late submission of invoices by saying... unless I come in and do a handover, invoices are not likely to get paid, but if I do they will put in a good word to ensure the invoices do get paid.

[cojak]

It seems they are threatening to with-hold payment due to late submission of invoices by saying... unless I come in and do a handover, invoices are not likely to get paid, but if I do they will put in a good word to ensure the invoices do get paid.

Shrug, take it on the chin and learn from the experience.

[Pondlife]

JFDI.

Go in and do a proper hand over FFS. It's not like you've got any other paid work at the mo from what I can tell.

At least this way a) you get paid for previous work done and b) it repairs some of the damage to your reputation at the client. You might get paid for it, you might not but for the sake of a day...

and I'm sorry but IMHO emailing on a friday morning from home and then turning up at lunchtime for four hours does not constitute giving a days notice.

[shanti]

JFDI.
and I'm sorry but IMHO emailing on a friday morning from home and then turning up at lunchtime for four hours does not constitute giving a days notice.

Was working my nuts off during the previous evening and morning to make a presentation deadline at 1pm which lasted for 3 hours. They don't expect people to do a 9-5pm - and I would not have an 1hr to spend trying to come in during the morning, until I can get the work done - at which point it could have been emailed to someone else to present until I turned up.

So it was frenetic and as was rightfully said before, I can't do everything including handover in one day.

[TheFaQQer]

Thank you - you get want you want in a contract, sign it, stick to it. Else manager's think they can take the p*ss.

I just don't know if I can be forced to go back in and do a hand over?

It seems they are threatening to with-hold payment due to late submission of invoices by saying... unless I come in and do a handover, invoices are not likely to get paid, but if I do they will put in a good word to ensure the invoices do get paid.

If you didn't opt out of the agency regulations, in writing, before being introduced to the client, then they can't withhold payment. As long as you can prove that you did the time billed for, they must pay you - if they aren't happy with the work, then that's a matter for the courts to decide.

You can't be forced to go back in and do a handover, whatever they say. If they withhold payment, then you can chase them for late payment fees and interest etc.

However, the question really should be - do you think that you have behaved appropriately or professionally in all this? If the client is asking for a handover, then you should give them a handover and bill them for that time. I certainly wouldn't be doing it for free, regardless of the circumstances, but you have an opportunity here to build some bridges and leave on a better note than you have done. Take it.

[TheFaQQer]

and I'm sorry but IMHO emailing on a friday morning from home and then turning up at lunchtime for four hours does not constitute giving a days notice.

That's as maybe, but in terms of providing notice, by informing both the agency and the client, Shanti has exceeded his/her contractual responsibilities.

[Pondlife]

That's as maybe, but in terms of providing notice, by informing both the agency and the client, Shanti has exceeded his/her contractual responsibilities.

I disagree although more from a professional than legal standpoint.

Emailing at 9:30am and saying it's your last day is not giving one days notice IMO.

Especially if you spend half of it offsite. At the very least (s)he should have emailed the day before and phoned the client first thing to find out what/how they wanted to handover. Spending all morning pnissing about with some presentation and then 3 hrs in a meeting before finally speaking to the guy at 4pm is unprofessional in my eyes.