Crikey! Outsourcing

[gingerjedi]

Double that - been through this twice. Outsourcing company is under the spotlight at first, last thing they want is any disruption in the service. They therefore keep everyone as sweet as possible with tales of more opportunities, better to work for technology company, chance to move to other sites blah blah. The only way they make money is to cut costs, all the costs are staff.
You are toast, you just don't know it yet. Contractors are the first out, usually back-filled by younger, less experienced or foreign staff. You might squeeze a bit more time out of this, depending on how key you are (trust me you are replaceable). Be wary, consider looking for other work and jump if you get a comparative offer.

Thanks for that, not what I wanted to hear on day 2 of my newly outsourced contract role...

[lukemg]

Sorry fella, I try to steer away from the standard doom laden approach to everything but this is definately my experience with this situation. One of the outsourcing guys was overheard saying 'contractors ? f**k 'em. they are there to be used and abused'.
You do get the odd one being retained longer - usually press-ganged into a permie role. These will be the quietest and most compliant people on the team, speak up if you want to leave.
Rest assured though - they are never considered as part of the company e.g. IBM. They will be ring-fenced in that contract and usually expected to stay in that job for the forseeable future, if they leave - all the better.
Good luck !

[gingerjedi]

One of the outsourcing guys was overheard saying 'contractors ? f**k 'em. they are there to be used and abused'.

Oh I've always heard that outsourced or not!

Quite funny really as all the permy guys that have been outsourced now have to wear contractor security badges just like me, I am taking great pleasure in calling them all scumbags