Oh dear - permie redundancies - this never ends well

[WTFH]

Yeah but those tapes don't change themselves so he's got a gig for life.

Not really, once all companies move away from C90s for their hold music and start using MP3s, he's sunk.

[VectraMan]

I had a gig where they told everyone one morning they were closing the site and everyone was at risk of redundancy. So I assumed my contract would be canned and adopted a relaxed attitude to the work.

After about 4 weeks and with the building already practically empty I asked the question and was told they wanted me to stay on but would have to move to the main office 30 miles away.

I did another 6 months and used the extra commute as one of my justifications for a healthy rate rise. Which was nice.

[northernladuk]

PC is right to be worried. There will be fewer forgotten passwords now ergo fewer accounts for him to unlock on a Monday morning.

Yeah but those tapes don't change themselves so he's got a gig for life.

[original PM]

Indeed - but also to get rid of permits can sometimes take sometime if done properly in terms of consultancy periods etc.

And contractors you can get rid of at the drop of a hat so you may find that nothing happens for 6 months then you all get the finger.

[barrydidit]

PC is right to be worried. There will be fewer forgotten passwords now ergo fewer accounts for him to unlock on a Monday morning.

[oracleslave]

sweep out of useless bums.

Doesn't apply in this case as psychocandy is apparently unaffected.

[westtester]

Nope. Companies announce a headcount reduction, the stock market likes this, so the share price goes up, and the board get bonuses. However, work must continue, so contractors, who are not part of head count, do rather well out of it.

Seen it many times.

Only when things get really tough do contractors also get reduced - even then, it's after the permies, since contractors can be got rid of at short notice.

Saw this at Lloyds, they have a regular (every couple of years) sweep out of lifers looking for early retirement and useless bums. Productivity is rarely affected and contractors get to carry on with their projects. We usually get a rate cut instead.

[northernladuk]

Nope. Companies announce a headcount reduction, the stock market likes this, so the share price goes up, and the board get bonuses. However, work must continue, so contractors, who are not part of head count, do rather well out of it.

Seen it many times.

Only when things get really tough do contractors also get reduced - even then, it's after the permies, since contractors can be got rid of at short notice.

Absolutely this and the different way permies are budgeted for on both costed and wooden money budgets. Totally different to contractors..... Unless some contractor is daft enough to be working on a BAU budget.

[NotAllThere]

Usually not long before some bean counter notices that, even though they're saving a few pennies shoving the odd permie out the door, that theres a much larger bottom line with the contractors.

Nope. Companies announce a headcount reduction, the stock market likes this, so the share price goes up, and the board get bonuses. However, work must continue, so contractors, who are not part of head count, do rather well out of it.

Seen it many times.

Only when things get really tough do contractors also get reduced - even then, it's after the permies, since contractors can be got rid of at short notice.

[Support Monkey]

Jeez NLUK mun.....

YMMV but IN MY EXPERIENCE if a client is looking to cut costs by making redundancies then its often not very long before they work out that getting rid of contractors is a good idea too. Surely you can see this?

Not always because sometimes a client will value you staying because you're an easily removable cost at some point in the future.

Worked at several client when they made departments/people redundant, contractors are normally the last people out the door, I find that a contractor is brought in to do a project the permies either can't do or won't do, the pay for the resource is a project cost and so already paid for, if the project continues so does the contractor.

In my case redundancies have always worked in my favour and created more work for me due to decreased permie headcount.

I see it as an opportunity, Every Cloud?