Hi guys,
Been a lurker for many months and I have learnt a great deal about the contractor ways, so my thanks for that. I am in my 1st contract and a situation has occurred that I need your advice on.
I'm currently contracted for 37.5 hours per week. Do to issues, the project I am on is behind and on a tight schedule. He pulled the team in to advise that we should be working a "professional day" as opposed to 9 - 5. In other words working as long as it takes to get the job done.
Since I am contracted in hours I thought this was something odd that they couldn't really suggest to me so I discussed with the agency and they said I should be a little flexible but not too much as it should be agreed beforehand and paid. So I was a little flexible, taking into account the general life events I needed to take care of.
Then, a week later, I get pulled into a meeting on my own and told that I basically wasn't putting in the extra hours that the PM expected and that the perception was I was just doing my hours. He then made the statement that "If you don't put in these hours then we will dismiss you". Yet could not say what hours would be acceptable.
After arguing the point about contracted hours and my willingness to work more if agreed due to the extended nature (IE. looks like a minimum of an hour a day for the next 2 months, which works out as a week extra so not an insignificant amount) and the obligatory remuneration for working extra for a while, he has made it clear that there is no negotiation, they don't believe my contract should be hours/claims it wasn't what they discussed with the agency and we'll get rid if you don't conform.
(Followed by a second discussion on him trying to get me to admit whether I had enough work to do in my hours and that I really should have more than that to mean I have to work the extra hours, which was followed by me stating that if there are tasks they want me to do then they need to assign them to me rather than hide them so I can see what my workload really looks like. I've also not really mentioned that that I was given a specific job description (Project Coordinator) and have had the PM since agree that my role is nothing of the sort that was originally proposed in the description...sorry I digress)
What would you suggest is the best response? Do I leave? How bad does that reflect on me as it's my 1st contract? Or since I'm not planning on working every hour for nothing wait until they cancel my contract over some contrived malpractice since I'm sure they couldn't terminate me for that reason?
Sorry for the ramble, I appreciate any guidance from you experienced people!
RM
Been a lurker for many months and I have learnt a great deal about the contractor ways, so my thanks for that. I am in my 1st contract and a situation has occurred that I need your advice on.
I'm currently contracted for 37.5 hours per week. Do to issues, the project I am on is behind and on a tight schedule. He pulled the team in to advise that we should be working a "professional day" as opposed to 9 - 5. In other words working as long as it takes to get the job done.
Since I am contracted in hours I thought this was something odd that they couldn't really suggest to me so I discussed with the agency and they said I should be a little flexible but not too much as it should be agreed beforehand and paid. So I was a little flexible, taking into account the general life events I needed to take care of.
Then, a week later, I get pulled into a meeting on my own and told that I basically wasn't putting in the extra hours that the PM expected and that the perception was I was just doing my hours. He then made the statement that "If you don't put in these hours then we will dismiss you". Yet could not say what hours would be acceptable.
After arguing the point about contracted hours and my willingness to work more if agreed due to the extended nature (IE. looks like a minimum of an hour a day for the next 2 months, which works out as a week extra so not an insignificant amount) and the obligatory remuneration for working extra for a while, he has made it clear that there is no negotiation, they don't believe my contract should be hours/claims it wasn't what they discussed with the agency and we'll get rid if you don't conform.
(Followed by a second discussion on him trying to get me to admit whether I had enough work to do in my hours and that I really should have more than that to mean I have to work the extra hours, which was followed by me stating that if there are tasks they want me to do then they need to assign them to me rather than hide them so I can see what my workload really looks like. I've also not really mentioned that that I was given a specific job description (Project Coordinator) and have had the PM since agree that my role is nothing of the sort that was originally proposed in the description...sorry I digress)
What would you suggest is the best response? Do I leave? How bad does that reflect on me as it's my 1st contract? Or since I'm not planning on working every hour for nothing wait until they cancel my contract over some contrived malpractice since I'm sure they couldn't terminate me for that reason?
Sorry for the ramble, I appreciate any guidance from you experienced people!
RM
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