Reply to: Wipro Contract with Lloyd’s Banking Group via Agency

[Bluenose]

The email you get from the agent:

'My client, a multi-billion pound multinational with offices in over 100 countries is looking for a highly experienced, highly motivated specialist who does not mind working in a dynamic, fast paced environment.'

The email you *should* get from the agent but won't:

'Working for WIPRO at LloydsTSB, where working here is better than being un-employed, which you will be once you help train one of the people we have invited in off the street to replace you'.

[Lenvdb]

WIPRO Experience

Just finished a contract with WIPRO.

It was a tough one. More than often I ended up doing 8-9 hour days. Towards the end with a 20 min lunch break only.
The Agency they pushed me onto was SKAWI.
They offered a contract with terms of 30 days after submitting invoices. These terms were hardly ever met. SKAWI breached this contract 80% of the time just by being late with my payment.
As it stands I have still not been paid for my January invoice, and we are almost half way into March.
SKAWI is to be avoided. Seriously, especially because their policy is to wait to be paid by WIPRO before they will pay you. Unless you are desperate for work

[BigDataPro]

and does your cat have big bolloks too??

Isn't your name Catty Boitch!

[BR14]

Privileged....huh...I raise invoice on Friday, money in on Wednesday (and my day rate is not cheap!)

and does your cat have big bolloks too??

[BigDataPro]

I've been rather privileged in my current contract – invoice paid within 14 days of issuing it...

Privileged....huh...I raise invoice on Friday, money in on Wednesday (and my day rate is not cheap!)

[uk contractor]

OP would not worry much about wipro. As others have already said you will only be there about 4-6 months until they can identify the scope of the role & replace you for someone imported from outside the UK way cheaper who will also be highly arrogant even though they will be earning £100 a day max!! The attitude they will give you will be eye opening as you train them to replace you!

Lloyds managers will not be an issue either. Most will just ignore you they know you will be replaced & many dislike working with wipro so you will not have much contact with Lloyds management.

Perm Lloyds staff if you have any contact with them as part of the role will probably be the biggest issue (along with knowing you will eventually be replaced by wipro for someone cheaper). When I was there I found several so called experts who hade been perm at Lloyds for many years & would tell you negative things like your the reason their share price is not high enough as they have to pay your over priced contractor salary & or you do not work hard enough which means you are taking food directly from their childrens mouths! Or another one I got was that the main reason I was employed as a contractor was because it was cheaper to do that than make the existing perms redundant & pay them off! None of it makes any sense but there is a lot of fear there about other external staff taking their easy street jobs away. The management do not help either most are only interested in not failing & holding onto their jobs & will throw anyone else into the firing line if something goes wrong.

In almost 30 years IT banking experience Lloyds was one of the worse banking contracts I ever did. Well paid but you earn every penny putting up with a lot of negativity from insecure perms & inexperienced line managers who create massive problems by not taking control to avoid taking any risk which might make them look bad!

[simes]

I've got a good three months earnings set aside – so could be worth the punt.

How many months' Living have you got set aside?

[ojf95]

Well, I wouldn't touch a Wipro anything, no matter how many stages removed I might be.

That said, if there is a clause in your contract with your UK agency that says, you don't get paid until the agency gets paid, then ultimately (if you really believe there is an issue with payment), you could be well and truly buggered.

If Wipro, or any other agency of ill repute, pay late, then the terms of your UK agency (in this example) will be well held up if they pay promptly, after they are paid. If Wipro aren't paying the UK, then you are on a hiding to the square route of naff all.

Anyway, banking might be worth the risk for three months, if you have a war chest. Do you?

Yeah, I suppose it all comes down to the contract in the end.

I've been rather privileged in my current contract – invoice paid within 14 days of issuing it.

I've got a good three months earnings set aside – so could be worth the punt. Currently doing a 100 miles round trip everyday for my current contract – taking this contract would knock it down to 5 miles.

[simes]

Well, I wouldn't touch a Wipro anything, no matter how many stages removed I might be.

That said, if there is a clause in your contract with your UK agency that says, you don't get paid until the agency gets paid, then ultimately (if you really believe there is an issue with payment), you could be well and truly buggered.

If Wipro, or any other agency of ill repute, pay late, then the terms of your UK agency (in this example) will be well held up if they pay promptly, after they are paid. If Wipro aren't paying the UK, then you are on a hiding to the square route of naff all.

Anyway, banking might be worth the risk for three months, if you have a war chest. Do you?

[ojf95]

Financially, you might be okay through another agency, but it depends on that agency. Make sure they’re U.K. based, and check their reputation for paying on time.

If you are just using the role as a stepping stone, be prepared for your last timesheet to not be signed if you walk.

Be prepared to be treated like tulip by the local manager, who thinks he’s the dog’s bollocks but couldn’t do a decent day’s work if he tried (and it will be a he).

Be prepared to “mentor” one of their own. By mentor, read “train from scratch”. They’ll give you a shadow that says he’s done it all before but struggles to log on.

The recruitment company seem legit. I'm assuming they would be acting as the middleman between me and Wipro so are less likely to mess me about. I wouldn't be going into it expecting to be there longer than six months if I'm honest.

I was sent the onboarding documents this morning (as a heads up from the recruitment firm if I was to get the job – seemed to be jumping the gun a little). They seem to want to know an awful lot about me for the BVG checks as well as asking me to purchase a Disclosure Scotland (which they claim they will reimburse me for on my first invoice) ... but I guess that could be due to the nature of the end client?

[ojf95]

Is the agency one of these Indian agencies that pretend to have offices in the Uk but are actually India based? If so, run

The recruitment company I've been dealing with are London based. On the face of it, they seem totally unrelated.

[BigDataPro]

...
Be prepared to “mentor” one of their own. By mentor, read “train from scratch”. They’ll give you a shadow that says he’s done it all before but struggles to log on.

Spot on!

[meridian]

Financially, you might be okay through another agency, but it depends on that agency. Make sure they’re U.K. based, and check their reputation for paying on time.

If you are just using the role as a stepping stone, be prepared for your last timesheet to not be signed if you walk.

Be prepared to be treated like tulip by the local manager, who thinks he’s the dog’s bollocks but couldn’t do a decent day’s work if he tried (and it will be a he).

Be prepared to “mentor” one of their own. By mentor, read “train from scratch”. They’ll give you a shadow that says he’s done it all before but struggles to log on.

[BigDataPro]

This is what you should be aware of when dealing with Wipro, TCS, Cognizant and the like. They pair you up with another guy to pick up your expertise. After say 6 months or so down the line, your services would't be required as they have their own resource trained by an expert/you, who can in turn train other minions.

[Eirikur]

I

I guess my question is, does the fact I’m applying via an agency lessen the risk of these horror stories I’ve read so much about coming to fruition or shall I just start running for the hills now?

Is the agency one of these Indian agencies that pretend to have offices in the Uk but are actually India based? If so, run