My advice is to fly the flag of a contractor early on. This makes it more difficult for them to chip away at your working practices later on.
e.g.
Breaks and lunch are not up for grabs. Don't ask clientco about them, don't talk about them.
Wear a suit. And if somebody tells you not to bother, definitely wear a suit or dress smarter than the rest.
Don't mix in to the 'family' too much. Depends on the workplace, but I don't like to be associated with permie coffee cliques, unless its with other contractors and the odd permie that tags along.
Bring a laptop in. Work on that if its not a secure facility, and if you can connect to their network, use as your main PC. Bring it into meetings.
Decline or don't go to meetings that have nothing to do with your work. This can be a difficult one, and may even upset some people, but if you're too busy then apologise and decline.
My favourite and a good litmus test: Book a holiday, obviously pick the time wisely. Don't ask, just book it (as in flights/hotels). Tell your clientco / project manager which week(s) you're not around for, purely out of courtesy.
I'm sure there are many more that others can suggest.
e.g.
Breaks and lunch are not up for grabs. Don't ask clientco about them, don't talk about them.
Wear a suit. And if somebody tells you not to bother, definitely wear a suit or dress smarter than the rest.
Don't mix in to the 'family' too much. Depends on the workplace, but I don't like to be associated with permie coffee cliques, unless its with other contractors and the odd permie that tags along.
Bring a laptop in. Work on that if its not a secure facility, and if you can connect to their network, use as your main PC. Bring it into meetings.
Decline or don't go to meetings that have nothing to do with your work. This can be a difficult one, and may even upset some people, but if you're too busy then apologise and decline.
My favourite and a good litmus test: Book a holiday, obviously pick the time wisely. Don't ask, just book it (as in flights/hotels). Tell your clientco / project manager which week(s) you're not around for, purely out of courtesy.
I'm sure there are many more that others can suggest.
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