Professionalism II

[SaltyLevels]

Reduce output 10% to compensate?

Strangely, once they did it to me, I simply just worked the hours I had to, took a one hour lunch each day and refused to take calls from them outside work hours. I know of lots who acted the same. Suddenly work you'd normally fly through would take the precise amount of time allotted to it. something like this ruins the relationship, so, for me, at best it's a not very well considered gamble. I know it backfired on IBM. They lost a lot of staff, with a lot of product and application knowledge and a lot of productivity due to it.

[Mich the Tester]

Strangely, once they did it to me, I simply just worked the hours I had to, took a one hour lunch each day and refused to take calls from them outside work hours. I know of lots who acted the same. Suddenly work you'd normally fly through would take the precise amount of time allotted to it. something like this ruins the relationship, so, for me, at best it's a not very well considered gamble. I know it backfired on IBM. They lost a lot of staff, with a lot of product and application knowledge and a lot of productivity due to it.

Something very similar happened here in Holland when a Dutch bank demanded 20% rate cuts during the BBBU.* Amazing how projects that were running along just fine were suddenly crippled.



*Big Banking Bugger Up

[scooterscot]

Never had this happen to me in my entire freelancing career now nearly 10 years.

If a client did this to me it would clearly indicate they don't value my skills & experience, and more so, they have no requirement or me at the moment.

Man up and negotiate a retainer.

[doodab]

I'd find another gig and then walk. I'd not even worry about matching current rate as long as I could beat the new one.

[d000hg]

This is true, but you also have to consider this; the client is paying a premium to a contractor for the flexibility of being able to tell us to piss off much easier than his own personnel. Once that premium is gone, the contractor can walk if he wants; if every contractor simply accepts the lower rate then it's all to easy to do this kind of thing every month to every supplier and the whole concept of business contracts and deals is devalued. A deal has been done and both sides should stick to it.

Walking when they act unprofessionally is fine, as long as you do so in a professional manner rather than saying "screw you I'm not putting up with this tulip"

[Mich the Tester]

Never had this happen to me in my entire freelancing career now nearly 10 years.

If a client did this to me it would clearly indicate they don't value my skills & experience, and more so, they have no requirement or me at the moment.

Man up and negotiate a retainer.

Usually in these cases it doesn't really matter about you and your skills; a decision is taken on the top floor by people who have no knowledge of or interest in what you do but who simply want to reduce costs in the short term and may well be getting a bonus for doing so. It is unlikely to be an indication of your skills or experience. It happened to me at a Dutch bank who said ´20% rate cut or leave at the end of the next month´ so I said I´d leave, but the PM managed to get me one extra month on my original rate because I was one of only two people who knew the insides of a particular application that was crucial to his project and the other bloke was ill and approaching permanent disability. Then after that month I went, having done nearly all the work. The PM was actually grateful to me that I didn't just walk straight away and he's hired me again since, in a different company.

[Mich the Tester]

Walking when they act unprofessionally is fine, as long as you do so in a professional manner rather than saying "screw you I'm not putting up with this tulip"

Indeed, there's no need to be nasty or insulting about it; it's a business decision and nothing personal.

[scooterscot]

Usually in these cases it doesn't really matter about you and your skills; a decision is taken on the top floor by people who have no knowledge of or interest in what you do but who simply want to reduce costs in the short term and may well be getting a bonus for doing so. It is unlikely to be an indication of your skills or experience. It happened to me at a Dutch bank who said ´20% rate cut or leave at the end of the next month´ so I said I´d leave, but the PM managed to get me one extra month on my original rate because I was one of only two people who knew the insides of a particular application that was crucial to his project and the other bloke was ill and approaching permanent disability. Then after that month I went, having done nearly all the work. The PM was actually grateful to me that I didn't just walk straight away and he's hired me again since, in a different company.

That's the right attitude. Stay focused on the job and build a reputation. Had a similar experience myself between two client working with the same.

All n all, the finance sector must be one very different sector from engineering. Whilst it's true someone at the top makes those choices they must have a degree of confidence they can pick those people up again at short notice and at a reduced rate. Otherwise why take the risk? Thinking of cash machine failures and similar stories in the news over the last year, not that I suspect those event are connected.

[lukemg]

I don't agree with this 'mid-contract' and while I might accept I would certainly stop any extras, monitoring rollouts at weekends etc and I would walk in a heartbeat if something better turned up, regardless of notice.
Seems clear most people suck it up or it wouldn't be so popular. It is likely that medium term, there will be an effect as people bail/won't go there.
GLA

[TheFaQQer]

If the clients behave like this - how should we? Should we send an email to the client/agency mid contract and demand a 10% uplift by the end of the week or we walk? Professional? Or good commercial decision?

If you can give notice and want to leave, then give notice and leave.

If you can't give notice and want to leave, then either leave at the end of the contract, or get a substitute in for the duration of the contract.

Act like a business, get treated like a business. Act like a c*** and you get treated like a c***.