Reply to: Playing games with timesheet = late payment.

[GillsMan]

Those that are stating I should provide my own tools...i have them. However, you can't just rock up into a bank, plug and play and off you go. This works when your client is some small business, but when you need the tools to connect with sensitive systems you've for to follow the clients policy. Therefore in the contract it states that all software will be provided in order to carry out the job.

As for the phone thing. The manager can't even sign off a timesheet - can you imagine the battle id have in my hands at billing him for calls (think long meetings internationally).

No need to kick a man when he is down and lay off the comments about "are you really cut out for this?". This phrase pops up every thread

It's not about the size of the client, it's about the type of work you do. I'm at one of the largest banks in the UK (begins with B, based in Canary Wharf), and I've advised that I won't be using their laptop. I don't have a fixed desk, nor do I have a client phone number. They set me up with an internal email address and I've advised that they will need to use my LtdCo email address to get hold of me, as that's the only one I check.

I'm working with a cloud-based SaaS solution, so to be fair, I can log in remotely without going through internal systems. Been security cleared and all that jazz. I also turn up when I want, leave when I want, WFH when I want, and get my timesheets signed on time.

I'm lucky in that the work I do is very much consultancy-based, and can very much be done remotely, so I don't have any of these issues, and I wouldn't exactly class this client as a small client, given that they have some 160,000 employees.

[TheFaQQer]

Never had a desk phone at a client site and if there was one I wouldnt use it. I use my company mobile that has an Internatinoal plan and this is paid for by my company. I dont bill clients for calls as i see it as included as part of my daily rate. If a plumber turns up to fix a burst pipe would you really expect them to add any phone calls they made onto the bill? A fixed rate is just that imo.

If I was away overseas, and the plumber needed to ring me, then I wouldn't expect him to pay for that, if it was a regular thing which had significant cost.

I don't bill my clients call charges because they tend to be insignificant, and I can't be bothered with working them all out every month. Most of my work calls are done via Skype anyway.

[TheFaQQer]

As for the phone thing. The manager can't even sign off a timesheet - can you imagine the battle id have in my hands at billing him for calls (think long meetings internationally).

Either get a smartphone with some kind of VOIP software, get the same software on your computer, or don't make the calls. If you don't make the calls, then there is nothing to bill for. I don't see that as rocket science, really.

You have a few choices here:

1) Walk away from the role
2) Put up with the "issues" and stop moaning about them
3) Put up with the "issues" and continue moaning about them
4) Resolve the issues

The problems you describe all seem to be fairly straightforward, and in many organisations are par for the course. If you can't handle them, then I can understand fully why some people are asking whether you are cut out for the routine stuff that most of us deal with regularly without bleating about it (apart from PC, obviously )

[chef]

Never had a desk phone at a client site and if there was one I wouldnt use it. I use my company mobile that has an Internatinoal plan and this is paid for by my company. I dont bill clients for calls as i see it as included as part of my daily rate. If a plumber turns up to fix a burst pipe would you really expect them to add any phone calls they made onto the bill? A fixed rate is just that imo.

[Anubis]

Those that are stating I should provide my own tools...i have them. However, you can't just rock up into a bank, plug and play and off you go. This works when your client is some small business, but when you need the tools to connect with sensitive systems you've for to follow the clients policy. Therefore in the contract it states that all software will be provided in order to carry out the job.

As for the phone thing. The manager can't even sign off a timesheet - can you imagine the battle id have in my hands at billing him for calls (think long meetings internationally).

No need to kick a man when he is down and lay off the comments about "are you really cut out for this?". This phrase pops up every thread

[Safe Collections]

Thank him very much as the the delay in getting paid has meant the porsche you were going to buy has come down in price by £5K, put a thankyou note with a bottle of whisky on his desk and watch him squirm, smile every time you see him

Best. Advice. Ever.

[tarbera]

Don't play his game !!

Grit your teeth and keep repeating this ^^^^^^^

Thank him very much as the the delay in getting paid has meant the porsche you were going to buy has come down in price by £5K, put a thankyou note with a bottle of whisky on his desk and watch him squirm, smile every time you see him

[TheFaQQer]

> I haven't ever had a desk since day 1. There is chronic over crowding so I have to work in a windowless meeting room with cables everywhere. The office is so bad mouse traps are in the corners of the room.

That's the nature of the gig, it seems - if there isn't enough space for everyone, then why should they make space for you? I've worked in a number of hot desk environments for a while. They are the client, if they want you to work in a meeting room then either work there or walk.

> I have no desk phone. People without a desk are expected to use their personal mobiles (wtf?)

So don't use your mobile. If they need to get hold of you, either they find you a phone or they come and find you. Forget to bring your mobile in. Forget to charge the battery.

> It's been almost 3 months and I still don't have access to things I need, including software despite chasing daily for it (i.e. I cannot do my job properly without it, despite stating what I needed in my interview).

Politely remind them that you need this stuff to do the job. Then sit back and count the money. Alternatively, find out exactly where the delay lies and go and find the stuff you need to do the job.

> The management are shocking. It takes one bloke 2.5 weeks to click on an 'approve' button - normally I wouldn't care but when it's stopping you from delivering work it becomes very frustrating. Tried chasing, speaking face to face ("yer, i'll do it later"), nothing seems to work.

That sometimes happens. Some organisations are worse than others. Ask politely and then sit back and count the money.

> My line manager is barely ever in. Only ever works 4 days a week and sits in her ivory tower with "the management team" in a corner. One day came to me asking to help someone deliver 81 (yes - 81!!!) different pieces of analysis on top of my day job (I told her politely where to go - aka: you need a team of people to do this).

I can't see this as a problem to be honest. My client contact is in a different country, on a different continent. Oh, and "line manager"???

<Timesheety stuff>

So talk to your "line manager" about the problem. Get the agency to extend the time period. Put your timesheet in early, and explain that you need to do this because of delays in getting approval in the past. If you get nowhere with the "line manager" then either suck it up or walk.

[BolshieBastard]

Clue - Knutsford?

D'oh!

I was thinking more central mancland!

Strangely, when I last worked at barcrap I didnt have issues getting my timesheet signed. That was over 10 years ago, though.

[Ticktock]

A few other points...

As a contractor, on the whole you should expect to supply your own tools for the job. Because of security access to the network, of course most clients provide a PC / laptop, but this can't be guaranteed. I always rock up on day 1 with my own laptop in case they don't have one ready for me.
As for the phone - so what? They don't have a desk phone for you? I don't have a Client company mobile when I travel abroad either, so you know what I do? I provide my own tool (my mobile) and bill them for business calls.
They haven't given you the software you need? OK, no-one likes the idea of spending thousands and thousands on software that you may never use at any other client, but still... you should provide your own tools.

Expecting the client to provide you with all of the hardware and software you need to do your job seems to me like an IR35 pointer. Like a builder turning up to do an extension at your house and asking you where his cement mixer, shovels, gloves, etc are kept.

As for the manager, sounds like a right knobber.


...are you sure you're cut out...

[Scruff]

Hmmmm, pricked my interest there! More clues to which bank and rabbits?

Clue - Knutsford?

[BolshieBastard]

If that's a certain Banking Client just outside of Manchester (which has lots of Rabbits - as well as Muppets !!!) - then I would seriously think about looking for something else.

Contractors have been treated disgracefully at this place over the last 2 Years. Out in the middle of noplace. Rate cuts. One Bob out ... another Bob in. And away you go.

Leave it to the Indians.

- Bob

Hmmmm, pricked my interest there! More clues to which bank and rabbits?

[nomadd]

If that's a certain Banking Client just outside of Manchester (which has lots of Rabbits - as well as Muppets !!!) - then I would seriously think about looking for something else.

Contractors have been treated disgracefully at this place over the last 2 Years. Out in the middle of noplace. Rate cuts. One Bob out ... another Bob in. And away you go.

Leave it to the Indians.

- Bob

And, strangely enough, that place is the only place where I ever ran into these types of can't get the timesheets signed issues.

Eventually I would simply pin the guy down at his desk until he signed the timesheet.

Whenever he kicked off about it, I just said I could easily take my problems up to Senior HR and one of the Bank's Directors, if that would help? Surprisingly it was always signed at that point.

[Wanderer]

Rate is great

Grit your teeth and keep repeating this ^^^^^^^

[socialworker]

Blimey makes be grateful I'm a social worker. Managers so far (4 gigs) have all been lovely. Treated very well, made to feel at home, all permies friendly and helpful, time sheets signed on presentation.