Reply to: Feeling like the Christmas turkey - stuffed

[TheFaQQer]

That said.. 8 hours at that rate is £360 so looks like they could be taking advantage at £300

8 hours at £40 = £320, not £360

Looks like they are expecting a 7.5 hour professional working day at £40 an hour so not taking advantage at all (unless 7.5 hours is way off the norm)

[Hobosapien]

For sure if they're expecting you to continue putting those hours in for that day rate they are taking the piss.

See what hours they expect, and when the project is behind due to the drop in man hours delivered make sure the contract has 'overtime' rate for working beyond those hours, or some other way of you clawing back the time/money.

[Lance]

Getting close to being out of pocket. firstly I did between 8 - 12 hours a day and my other half does a car share sometimes with me. Rate was £40 per hour. then because they screwed up a major project, it got knocked down to £300 full stop as their excuse was "this is what we meant" my agency did not fight on my behalf so now I am looking for a role up in London.

When on an hourly rate, unless they’re expecting a load of extra billing, you’re better of doing the extra hours Mon-Thu and take Friday afternoon off. That won’t screw their budget and you get paid fairly.
At the very least, as soon as you go beyond 8hrs/day average you need to make sure they’re happy with it.

[northernladuk]

Getting close to being out of pocket. firstly I did between 8 - 12 hours a day and my other half does a car share sometimes with me. Rate was £40 per hour. then because they screwed up a major project, it got knocked down to £300 full stop as their excuse was "this is what we meant" my agency did not fight on my behalf so now I am looking for a role up in London.

All sounds reasonable to me. Booking 10 to 12 hours a day on a project is going to screw up their budgeting which will probably be on x people doing y days at z cost per day.

I thought it might be something to do with over billing. I think to leave this because you've had it so good could be a mistake. You aren't going to find a golden egg like that so you might have reset your expectations... unless the 300 they meant is way below market rate and is a piss take.

That said.. 8 hours at that rate is £360 so looks like they could be taking advantage at £300

[ISL]

Any idea why they may have gone from hourly to daily? I've only ever seen daily for what I do so not sure how common hourly rates are. Are they just moving with the times or has something happened?

Are you out of pocket with this change? Have you been billing them 10 hours a day so you believe you are out of pocket? Nothing you've done that's made them re-think this?

Getting close to being out of pocket. firstly I did between 8 - 12 hours a day and my other half does a car share sometimes with me. Rate was £40 per hour. then because they screwed up a major project, it got knocked down to £300 full stop as their excuse was "this is what we meant" my agency did not fight on my behalf so now I am looking for a role up in London.

[ISL]

Yes they can.

Have you looked on jobserve?

I am on both Jobserve and CV library

[psychocandy]

Yes but...

If the income works with 10 hour days but not with 8 then that is not much help.

Depends if he was working 10 hours at £30 an hour before (i.e. £300/day) and now they want to pay £240 a day and still want 10 hours a day.

[northernladyuk]

OP - well either party can do what they want and then the other has to decide whether to accept?

The move to day rate is strange. As someone said, have you been working/billing 10 hour days? I expect they're thinking pay day rate and get the same 10 hours for less.

If this is their plan then that'd be the end of the 10 hour days for me and back to 8 hours average.

Yes but...

If the income works with 10 hour days but not with 8 then that is not much help.

[psychocandy]

OP - well either party can do what they want and then the other has to decide whether to accept?

The move to day rate is strange. As someone said, have you been working/billing 10 hour days? I expect they're thinking pay day rate and get the same 10 hours for less.

If this is their plan then that'd be the end of the 10 hour days for me and back to 8 hours average.

[lukemg]

Chap I used to work with was informed there was a 10% cut coming and responded with: excellent, I was wanting to open a discussion about rate, I am looking for a 20% rise. He ended up getting 10%, it is all about how much they want you and how much you are prepared to walk.
If you are scared and have no other options, take it, make sure you have a notice clause and start looking...

[BR14]

I think you may have hit the nail on the head there.

It may be an issue with working too many hours a day - or perhaps too few.

Does 7-8 hours at the old rate add up to 1 day at the new rate? Then sign up!

Use your leverage if you think you have any.

or they're expecting the OP to work his nuts off on a day rate to get them out of the keich.
only the OP can call this IMO

and having been contracting for some years, he should have enough liquidity to walk if he doesn't get the deal he wants.

[PerfectStorm]

Any idea why they may have gone from hourly to daily? I've only ever seen daily for what I do so not sure how common hourly rates are. Are they just moving with the times or has something happened?

Are you out of pocket with this change? Have you been billing them 10 hours a day so you believe you are out of pocket? Nothing you've done that's made them re-think this?

I think you may have hit the nail on the head there.

It may be an issue with working too many hours a day - or perhaps too few.

Does 7-8 hours at the old rate add up to 1 day at the new rate? Then sign up!

Use your leverage if you think you have any.

[northernladyuk]

Any idea why they may have gone from hourly to daily? I've only ever seen daily for what I do so not sure how common hourly rates are. Are they just moving with the times or has something happened?

Are you out of pocket with this change? Have you been billing them 10 hours a day so you believe you are out of pocket? Nothing you've done that's made them re-think this?

You're fooling nobody, sweetheart.

[northernladuk]

Any idea why they may have gone from hourly to daily? I've only ever seen daily for what I do so not sure how common hourly rates are. Are they just moving with the times or has something happened?

Are you out of pocket with this change? Have you been billing them 10 hours a day so you believe you are out of pocket? Nothing you've done that's made them re-think this?

[Hobosapien]

As they are wanting to change the terms of the contract, see if there are any changes you can negotiate in to offset enough of the pain to make it worthwhile continuing, such as at least some weekly WFH to offset travel expenses you can't claim under IR35 anyway.

If they want to change to day rate, negotiate that 1 day is 5 hours so can arrive late/leave early if it suits.

Also insist on new clauses so if SHTF then working beyond the agreed professional day number of hours results in increased pay, so you're not working 12 hour days on the same day rate.

Plenty of scope for such stuff. No guarantee they will agree to any of it though, so think about walking and the impact of that to yourself.