Reply to: Handing in notice

[northernladuk]

Updates.

So I eventually handed in my notice a few days ago. And accepted a new contract the following day. However, someone has decided to make things a little tricky.

I received an email from my current client. Basically saying they don't want me to leave and have guaranteed that more work is on the way....

No such thing as guarantee of future work in contracting. There is the offer of a guarantee to keep you but will still drop you if it suits them but in the meantime they've kept their resource.

I'm rather annoyed all of this couldn't be resolved before I started looking elsewhere... A real shame it had to come to this.

I'm not 100% sure it has been resolved as per my first comment but it didn't have to come to this. You could still have played hardball earlier to resolve rather than having to wait for an excuse to stick it to them. If you'd engaged them earlier to set out your concerns before you started looking you could have probably got the same outcome. The problem is you had nothing to kick you in to shape, the new contract did. Next time deal with it at the earliest opportunity but act like you will definitely be leaving, you don't necessarily need the offer in the background.

[LondonManc]

Have you accepted or signed? Big difference.

Sounds like better the devil you know, especially from a work/life balance point of view.

[DeludedKitten]

Updates.

So I eventually handed in my notice a few days ago. And accepted a new contract the following day. However, someone has decided to make things a little tricky.

I received an email from my current client. Basically saying they don't want me to leave and have guaranteed that more work is on the way....

I think you can see where this is going. I'm now tempted to stick around. The new contract has great potential but is well over two hours away. Whereas my current contract is only 40 mins away....

I'm rather annoyed all of this couldn't be resolved before I started looking elsewhere... A real shame it had to come to this.

You made the bed, now you lie in it.

That's the nature of the world.

[DanielSQL]

Updates.

So I eventually handed in my notice a few days ago. And accepted a new contract the following day. However, someone has decided to make things a little tricky.

I received an email from my current client. Basically saying they don't want me to leave and have guaranteed that more work is on the way....

I think you can see where this is going. I'm now tempted to stick around. The new contract has great potential but is well over two hours away. Whereas my current contract is only 40 mins away....

I'm rather annoyed all of this couldn't be resolved before I started looking elsewhere... A real shame it had to come to this.

[DanielSQL]

Lol nope.

[northernladuk]

The agent said it was what the client requested. At the time I thought great. They must have a substantial amount of work for me....

Won't be making that assumption again will you?

[DanielSQL]

Why was the notice extended from 5 days to 4 weeks at renewal? Do they want you around for that length of time to do handovers that they think couldn't be done in the original 5 days, or at renewal time was there a lot more work anticipated that they didn't want resource issues having to be resolved within days of materialising?

How long until your current extension ends?

If there's not much work and client doesn't foresee that changing before contract end date then they may be willing to accept a compromise if their requirements or projected resource plans have changed. Discuss it with them. They may have more work in the pipeline you don't yet know about, so after getting the full picture you can then look at trying to get out of the contract early if that still appeals.

The agent said it was what the client requested. At the time I thought great. They must have a substantial amount of work for me...

Two or three months have passed since the renewal. And I've had very little to do. It's driving me crazy.

[DanielSQL]

3 seems the most sensible. Maybe offer to be available for a couple of days here and there to do support, and just balance that as days off from any new project.

I agree. Ill be expressing my concerns this week.

[Hobosapien]

Why was the notice extended from 5 days to 4 weeks at renewal? Do they want you around for that length of time to do handovers that they think couldn't be done in the original 5 days, or at renewal time was there a lot more work anticipated that they didn't want resource issues having to be resolved within days of materialising?

How long until your current extension ends?

If there's not much work and client doesn't foresee that changing before contract end date then they may be willing to accept a compromise if their requirements or projected resource plans have changed. Discuss it with them. They may have more work in the pipeline you don't yet know about, so after getting the full picture you can then look at trying to get out of the contract early if that still appeals.

[LondonManc]

3 seems the most sensible. Maybe offer to be available for a couple of days here and there to do support, and just balance that as days off from any new project.

The added bonus is that it shows that you're not turning up expecting to be given work that isn't in your contracted deliverables. Thinking carefully on that point, if your contracted deliverables are completed, you could serve notice and advise that you'll be in until such a date to provide a handover but that you've already done what you were contracted to deliver.

[DeludedKitten]

1/ Keep turning up, keep invoicing

2/ Break your contract, face a risk of legal action

3/ Explain that work is drying up and you don't feel that you're offering them with sufficient value for money and an early exit by you would be more cost-efficient for them; offer remote support via email as part of this should they have any queries after you've gone.

4/ Do you have a substitute and substitution clause?

3 seems the most sensible. Maybe offer to be available for a couple of days here and there to do support, and just balance that as days off from any new project.

[northernladuk]

I would guess, having never gone to court over it.

Indeed but you'd think something should have got there and if not got close enough for some of our learned members to have had visibility of the arguments.

It's touched on in some of the IR35 cases like the JCB one where he's sent home if he can't work etc but not focused on to look at all the possible situations. Shame really. Pretty key area to be relying on tidbits and opinion.

[Old Greg]

I'm not sure that's the case though and that's where it get's very confusing. They can get away with it because the obligation to provide the work in contract has been completed, lets say build a wall, and they are under no obligation to give you further work once this is completed. In fact to keep yourself IR35 status safe you should insist they offer you no more work. If they want something else doing you cancel that contract and start a new one with new deliverables.

If you sign a contract to build a wall you are contractually obliged to do so. You can't just say I'm off with half a wall built. You are still obliged to deliver what was agreed surely.

That is if you have a set outcome to achieve in the contract though, which most of ours aren't. In the absence of a marked delivered isn't the end date the deliverable? Dunno.

As LM says though, client/supplier contracts are not a level playing field.

EDIT : But if anyone on this forum is aware of the intricacies of MoO it's you so an odd discussion really

We sign a T&M contract and if the client gives us four weeks' notice when we are half way through building the wall and tells us there is no more work available, that's it. You can't sue them. It works the other way as well.


I would guess, having never gone to court over it.

[northernladuk]

What legal obligations? I don't think I've ever signed a contract that obliges me to deliver services on any given days. Clients can get away with giving you notice and then telling you there is no work available during the notice period. It works the other way (unless you're signing different contracts).
.

I'm not sure that's the case though and that's where it get's very confusing. They can get away with it because the obligation to provide the work in contract has been completed, lets say build a wall, and they are under no obligation to give you further work once this is completed. In fact to keep yourself IR35 status safe you should insist they offer you no more work. If they want something else doing you cancel that contract and start a new one with new deliverables.

If you sign a contract to build a wall you are contractually obliged to do so. You can't just say I'm off with half a wall built. You are still obliged to deliver what was agreed surely.

That is if you have a set outcome to achieve in the contract though, which most of ours aren't. In the absence of a marked delivered isn't the end date the deliverable? Dunno.

As LM says though, client/supplier contracts are not a level playing field.

EDIT : But if anyone on this forum is aware of the intricacies of MoO it's you so an odd discussion really

[LondonManc]

It's a very one-sided playing field unfortunately and always in favour of those who have the money.
The client has a pot of cash that the agencies and contractors want and that invariably leads to the client winning as agency and contractor will do whatever they can to maximise their cut of the cash. Cat and mouse boys, cat and mouse.