So many positions are turning into contracts and freelance... (employment, applying, fund)
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Its obamacare. Companies are doing away with full time employees to avoid the obamacare rules.
Yes and No, every company that has full time employees, HAS to offer medical coverage, Staffing Agencies included. The difference is these staffing agencies do not kick in a dime for your medical coverage, your paying the full cost for coverage and coverage stinks. I worked for a staffing agency that was like this, it would have cost me $600 a month to cover me and my wife, the max out of pocket was $25,000 and they only covered 60% of medical expenses. I can get better coverage by going out on the open market and buying insurance myself.
I have health benefits.
I have company loyalty to the companies I work for pretty regularly. Others I don't.
Stability originally scared me, but I've actually come to accept the fact that it's actually far more stable than employment. With employment, you're stable until you're not. You get a false sense of stability. And then you're laid off.
Same here. I've been consulting at my current company for almost three years, surviving purges that have seen everyone from BAs to VPs laid off. If I were still in the original group that I consulted for, I would have seniority as pretty much everyone FT was moved or laid-off due to cost cutting. As long as some of my projects get funded (and I usually have many projects in the works), I feel like my role is pretty secure.
Of course, I'm also flexible with hours and don't mind working only 20 hours a week if there's only 20 hours worth of work to be done. The premium in compensation for consulting offsets the lack of hours.
I'm not against contracting per se. Our company has a contractor who was an employee, but moved across the country for personal reasons. He was retained on a consulting basis and is working remotely due to a lack of personnel and apparently has filled gaps in various roles. I think the plan is to get fully staffed and get others up to speed, but in the meantime, the relationship appears to work well for both parties.
The staffing agencies that bill a client $40/hr, pay $12/hr, then keep the difference are the real culprit, as well as companies who use them for easy of firing, no benefits, etc.
This is a huge concern of mine. If you're constantly bouncing from contract to contract, how can you buy a home, car, or make any long-term commitment? What lender would want to lend to someone who is so unstable, no matter what the reason is for?
Provided it is lot tougher and requires lots more documentation but it is possible. Being on contract doesn't mean you are not on a payroll. Lot of times people are on W-2 contract or even 1099 etc where they get paid a salary and file tax returns how a regular corporation/LLC or individual would do every year. Based on 3-5 yrs of tax returns you can get financed for a a home or auto loan. Its not everyones cup of tea but if you reach a point where you are buying property & cars under your corporation and start reimbursing yourself for the gas mileage for office commute, thats when no body wants to work full time for peanuts. The most important factor is economy though. Contractors are usually the first people to let go during a downturn in economy. So it is lot riskier but advantages are better if you are making right kind of money.
Yeah, my career is full of contract temp work. Sometimes you find immediate work the next week, sometimes you go long term unemployed. That is why my confidence was sapped and I'm not married by now at 45 years old.
I prefer contract work over "perm" work. I resigned from a full-time salaried position at a Fortune 20 company to take a long-term contract position at a different Fortune 20 company.
But it could go at any time due to budgets. That's how it goes. It doesn't bother me. Actually, the 'unknown' is something I thrive on. Besides, there is no garantee in a 'perm' job anyway. At least when you are in a contract, you are mentally ready for it.
Obamacare is actually a good thing for contractors like me, because I know for sure I can buy health insurance if I need it, and don't have to worry about getting turned down for preexisting condition. At the moment I am on my spouse's health insurance but would be getting Obamacare if that insurance goes away.
I have been doing this contract stuff for almost 20 years with some perm jobs in between. Often when it's time to search for a new position, I exclude "perm" jobs and even "temp to perm" in my searches. I remember having an interview long ago and it went well. It was for a contract gig. The 'p.i.m.p'(aka vendor that is finding the gigs for me) gave me feedback after the interview that the client was interested in going further with me, but it was going to be 'contract to perm'. I decided not to go further because it was originally advertised as 'contract' and I didn't want contract to perm.
Most people wouldn't be able to handle this uncertainty. But it's perfect for me. I guess everyone is different.
Its obamacare. Companies are doing away with full time employees to avoid the obamacare rules.
You are going to have to explain that one to us. Obamacare is medical coverage for people who can't get it from their employer. If the employer offers medical coverage, they don't use Obamacare. If they do use Obamacare it has no impact on the employer. As a business owner, you are required to pay the first at least the 10% of the employees health plan, which has always been the case and that has nothing to do with obamacare.
You are going to have to explain that one to us. Obamacare is medical coverage for people who can't get it from their employer. If the employer offers medical coverage, they don't use Obamacare. If they do use Obamacare it has no impact on the employer. As a business owner, you are required to pay the first at least the 10% of the employees health plan, which has always been the case and that has nothing to do with obamacare.
Sure, I can see you have no clue what Obamacare really is going to do to business and employees! ACA is not just signing up for insurance. ACA has huge impacts on business!!!!
For smaller companies:
A key Obamacare incentive is an “employer mandate” that asks businesses to sponsor health insurance (or pay a penalty) if they have more than 50 full-time employees. It defines a full-time worker as one serving 30 or more hours per week. So a firm can avoid the mandate by having fewer than 50 people working full-time.
Larger companies:
Under the Affordable Care Act, large companies are required to provide subsidised healthcare for every employee who works 30-hours a week or more.
So if you do not think this will mean fewer full time employee jobs out there you are in for a shock! Companies can hire contractors to avoid the costs, they can cut hours to get below the 30 hour min. Its going to suck!
It seems no matter what industry I look, more and more jobs are becoming short term contracts, consulting (freelance), or perma temp. I mean, contract nurses, contract doctors, contract engineering, contract management, stuff I would never imagine becoming contract is now a short term contract. From the looks of it, seems about 60% of jobs are now contracts, and I expect this to creep up even further.
This paints a really bleak picture for the future in my opinion:
- No health benefits
- No company loyalty, lack of people that truly know the company
- No stability for people to settle down, start families.
- Gaps of unemployment while trying to find new contracts
Maybe it's good for businesses in the short term now, but my god, how can businesses be blind to how this is going to destroy things in the long term.
I work contract jobs - IT database security. Pay is extremely good. The staffing firm usually retains $20 to $30 an hour of the contract rate for their admin costs, paying their portion of the employment taxes, and their own profit. Ex: If they get paid $100hr for me, I might get $70 to $80 per hour.
Generally, due to IRS rules, HR has stated you cannot be a contractor with them for more than 18 months without either being converted to a FTE or you take a mandatory "vacation" of at least 90 days. Vacation means your contract expires and you don't get paid. After the 90 day period is up, you can get a new contract up to 18 months with them. Because one is paid W2 wages, you can get unemployment during the 90 days. In Hawaii, the max is about $525 per week.
I have family coverage for health benefits and pay for the cost, but that seems to be almost the norm anymore at most companies anyway.
I admit to having no loyalty to my staffing firm (one of the largest in the world) and the only person I know at all there is my recruiter, whom I have only talked over the phone with a few times in the 2.5 years. (worked 2 diff contracts in that time) I do have a lot of peers, some of whom have become friends, at my actual work, even though we all work from home, scattered over the world.
Stability - several of the people I work with have recently bought homes, in the $400k+ range. As long as your credit is decent, you can get a loan. The mortgage company only cares that you work in the same field/job, not that you worked for different companies for 6-18 months at a time.
In this business, since you generally know your contract end date well in advance, you work with your recruiter well in advance since they want to place you rather than you going through another firm. If you already know that the company is taking you back after the 90 day "vacation", the employment gap isn't an issue. Staffing companies know what the gap was for.
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After the 90 day period is up, you can get a new contract up to 18 months with them. Because one is paid W2 wages, you can get unemployment during the 90 days. In Hawaii, the max is about $525 per week.
