As I mentioned earlier, I've contracted in IT for large blue chips for 9 years and was perm before and now after that.
I'll paste from above and comment in turn - note this is my personal experience but I do wonder, how accurately it applies to contractors I've worked with too. Quite a lot I'd imagine.
"I don't like being controlled by managers who know less than me"
I've found this happens frequently in contracting, of course we can have the standard discussion what's meant by "control", but I tend to get parachuted into projects when it's already gone a bit squirrelly, usually the fault of the manager.
The difference as a permy is, if, and it's a big if, you want to stay with the same company, then you have to work your way through, around or over your out of their depth manager whereas in contracting you just need to wait for your contract to expire, though then it's often a case of out of the frying pan....
"because I want to manage what I do with all my income"
I suppose we all do, the financial upside of contracting is well understood by most. Personally I'm not too unhappy with the arrangement I have as I can max out my pension contributions, something I'd seriously neglected prior.
because I want to be able to take time off as needed by me, not them
When it comes to "normal" holiday, it's much of a muchness, if I took time off at a critical point in a project as a contractor there'd be implications and as a result I wouldn't. I can't see a big difference here. For me, a big sacrifice of turning perm is not being able to take big chunks of time off to travel between contracts.
What I tended to find as a contractor is that I adopted a make hay while the sun shines attitude and barely took a day off (including when ill). I do like having paid holiday and 31 days isn't shabby. Bench time, unless voluntary, seldom felt like a holiday and through needing to be available for interviews meant I couldn't really go away.
because I want better options for pensions saving
I can't really comment on this as I'm not sure what's implied, I'm crap at that stuff, I'm kind of thankful my employer gives me few options and even as an employee you only loose the NI if you want to do it your way rather than through AVCs (if I understand things correctly).
because I gave up on valuing career plans, company car schemes, personnel assessments
Company car is just a form of income and therefore gets lumped in the financial perm/contract comparison. As far as career plans and the like, I think you'll find most employees feel they have little relevance too.
and bonus schemes years ago
Luckily, and maybe this isn't the norm, as long as you do your job well, you get an on target bonus relevant to your grade (13%), yes you might be able to up that a little but not a lot. There's certainly no big bucks lottery to worry about and as such I lump this into the financial perm/contract comparison pot.
because I get bored to tears after two years in the same office
ermmm......you got me there...at least you're not the "new boy" every two years and have the (possibly false) sense of job security conducive to sorting out accommodation within a short commute.
because I only want to work for a company that I own.
I like many (most?) use a Ltd company because that's "the way it's done". One day I'd love to have a boutique consultancy with some select employees and partners and deal direct with end-clients. That day isn't realistic any time soon.
And just for the record, I think those contractors that have been able to insulate themselves from office politics and "corporate culture 5hite..." are lucky and I strongly suspect, a small minority.
I'll paste from above and comment in turn - note this is my personal experience but I do wonder, how accurately it applies to contractors I've worked with too. Quite a lot I'd imagine.
"I don't like being controlled by managers who know less than me"
I've found this happens frequently in contracting, of course we can have the standard discussion what's meant by "control", but I tend to get parachuted into projects when it's already gone a bit squirrelly, usually the fault of the manager.
The difference as a permy is, if, and it's a big if, you want to stay with the same company, then you have to work your way through, around or over your out of their depth manager whereas in contracting you just need to wait for your contract to expire, though then it's often a case of out of the frying pan....
"because I want to manage what I do with all my income"
I suppose we all do, the financial upside of contracting is well understood by most. Personally I'm not too unhappy with the arrangement I have as I can max out my pension contributions, something I'd seriously neglected prior.
because I want to be able to take time off as needed by me, not them
When it comes to "normal" holiday, it's much of a muchness, if I took time off at a critical point in a project as a contractor there'd be implications and as a result I wouldn't. I can't see a big difference here. For me, a big sacrifice of turning perm is not being able to take big chunks of time off to travel between contracts.
What I tended to find as a contractor is that I adopted a make hay while the sun shines attitude and barely took a day off (including when ill). I do like having paid holiday and 31 days isn't shabby. Bench time, unless voluntary, seldom felt like a holiday and through needing to be available for interviews meant I couldn't really go away.
because I want better options for pensions saving
I can't really comment on this as I'm not sure what's implied, I'm crap at that stuff, I'm kind of thankful my employer gives me few options and even as an employee you only loose the NI if you want to do it your way rather than through AVCs (if I understand things correctly).
because I gave up on valuing career plans, company car schemes, personnel assessments
Company car is just a form of income and therefore gets lumped in the financial perm/contract comparison. As far as career plans and the like, I think you'll find most employees feel they have little relevance too.
and bonus schemes years ago
Luckily, and maybe this isn't the norm, as long as you do your job well, you get an on target bonus relevant to your grade (13%), yes you might be able to up that a little but not a lot. There's certainly no big bucks lottery to worry about and as such I lump this into the financial perm/contract comparison pot.
because I get bored to tears after two years in the same office
ermmm......you got me there...at least you're not the "new boy" every two years and have the (possibly false) sense of job security conducive to sorting out accommodation within a short commute.
because I only want to work for a company that I own.
I like many (most?) use a Ltd company because that's "the way it's done". One day I'd love to have a boutique consultancy with some select employees and partners and deal direct with end-clients. That day isn't realistic any time soon.
And just for the record, I think those contractors that have been able to insulate themselves from office politics and "corporate culture 5hite..." are lucky and I strongly suspect, a small minority.
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