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Like the title says. I saw a NY Times web post that I couldn't read, and it said some firms are moving towards more contracting thus less job stability.
The employees of those temp firms aren't unhappy. "But they should have permanent jobs with full benefits at the client company!" That's your opinion, and it simply doesn't mean anything. You're free to start a company, employ people, not use temps, pay good wages and benefits, etc. Show us how it's done! But until you do that, it's just one more opinion in a world full of them.
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And I hate the role Temp Firms play in blacklisting people.
Almost afraid to ask, but... how so?
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I say temp firms and being a constant contractor will dishearten many Americans, but I guess Millenials are used to this...
I've been a temp and a contractor as well as a direct employee. Both have pluses and minuses. As a temp long ago, I've had crappy jobs, and I could go back to the temp firm and say, "I want something else." Or go to another temp firm, which was a lot easier to get hired at. Today, I'm a contractor, which is sort of in between the two. If there's no work for me, I'll get RIFed pretty quickly, but so what? There are a dozen other similar places I can go work at.
The employees of those temp firms aren't unhappy. . Both have pluses and minuses. As a temp long ago, I've had crappy jobs, and I could go back to the temp firm and say, "
I know of almost no one who is happy being a temp in my profession I know quite a few who were unhappy enough to abandon the profession. I can't think of any significant pluses to being a temp. The pay is vastly inferior, the benefits are often totally nonexistent to substandard at best, the companies treat the workers very crappy to keep them alienated to avoid a Microsoft style lawsuit, there is no job security, professional development, raises, rewards for excellence other than a contract extension, the companies that use temps heavily tend to be the worst to work for. In short, is it an undesirable dead end.
Same basic principle though. If the company loses the contract, the workers lose their jobs because they are only hired for that contract. So they are considered temporary. The reality is of course they are not temporary because another contractor is hired and they just change names on the business card. The reality is its not a temporary job; the need is permanent. And while there are a host of laws about what they are and are not supposed to do, those laws are pretty much ignored and they are treated just as if they were employees. So they are "perpetual contractors" as the OP used the term.
True temporary employees are a different creature. They are hired as full time employees but only for a set period of time. That's different from a contractor temp that is actually permanent.
No, that's not accurate. The employees are not temporary at all. I know people who have worked for the same contractor for 10 to 20 years. I have worked for some myself. When one contract ends, they just put you on another one. If they lose a contract, usually the new contractor hires you, but even that doesn't happen all that often. Typically you have at least 4-5 years before then, which is a good run for any job. It's just not the same at all - contractors are companies that seek contracts constantly and have multiple contracts at the same time. It isn't just government contractors that do that. Construction companies and home remodelers do it. Architecture companies, engineering firms, etc. That's how they work - other large companies or governments or institutions contract with them for services. They have regular employees like anyone else. They'd have to pretty much go out of business before most people start losing their jobs. By your definition half the country is probably a contractor. Working for a company that contracts for services does not make you temporary or a contractor. It's just another job.
Compared to a lot of other first world countries, the cost of a full time employee isn't that much greater than bringing in a contractor from an agency. Somebody has to pay the employer half of payroll taxes. Somebody has to pay state unemployment insurance and workman's comp. The cost of the benefits for that contractor might be lower but the agency is skimming off the top and that's usually more money than those benefits. The IRS looks closely at 1099 contractors so most larger employers will only bring in contractors though an agency. Somewhere like Germany, that's not the case. If you lay off a full time employee, you have to give them huge piles of money. It creates the mentality where for any job that might be terminated in the next 5 years, you use a contractor and reserve full time slots for key employees.
H-1B is a totally different animal. H-1B law says you can't replace a full time employee with an H-1B employee. It doesn't say that you can't replace that full time employee with a contractor who happens to come from an Indian H-1B contracting shop like Tata or Infosys. That's strictly a money thing and it needs to be banned. There's a bill in Congress now that says the minimum pay for H-1B is $130,000. That stops the whole indentured servant thing dead in it's tracks. If somebody has the talent to pay them $130K, by all means, hire them no matter where in the world they're from. Don't replace some full time employee making $90K with a fully burdened cost of $120K with an Indian contractor where you're paying the agency $80K. That's evil.
Like the title says. I saw a NY Times web post that I couldn't read, and it said some firms are moving towards more contracting thus less job stability. And I hate the role Temp Firms play in blacklisting people.
I say temp firms and being a constant contractor will dishearten many Americans, but I guess Millenials are used to this...
And where are you in this story? Does it affect you?
H-1B is a totally different animal. H-1B law says you can't replace a full time employee with an H-1B employee. It doesn't say that you can't replace that full time employee with a contractor who happens to come from an Indian H-1B contracting shop like Tata or Infosys. That's strictly a money thing and it needs to be banned. There's a bill in Congress now that says the minimum pay for H-1B is $130,000. That stops the whole indentured servant thing dead in it's tracks. If somebody has the talent to pay them $130K, by all means, hire them no matter where in the world they're from. Don't replace some full time employee making $90K with a fully burdened cost of $120K with an Indian contractor where you're paying the agency $80K. That's evil.
I hope that bill passes. If a worker is really so valuable and rare that there is no citizen in the entire US qualified than 130k is a bargain. Since we all know that except for some rare exceptions that is not the case it should hopefully greatly discourage the abuse.
Right now, every H1b we allow is an American STEM worker whose life was destroyed.
True that contractors do not usually earn as much after you factor in benefits, but they sometimes make more per hour than permanent workers.
There are people for whom contracting is the best way to make a living without being tied down to one place. You get a lot of experience and I would guess that they'd rather forgo perks and office politics.
I don't know what Tweeter or tweeting is much, but if you can relay this to Pres Trump, maybe he can change this abusive permatemp thing. He's already hard on the H1b thing. I really stick for Trump, as he CREATED JOBS. MITT ROMNEY was a job destroyer..
Yes, I too got the impression that Mitt Romney would destroy jobs and let corporations sell everything out to H1-B visas and outsourcing. He supported the corporations, not individuals.
I know of almost no one who is happy being a temp in my profession I know quite a few who were unhappy enough to abandon the profession. I can't think of any significant pluses to being a temp. The pay is vastly inferior, the benefits are often totally nonexistent to substandard at best, the companies treat the workers very crappy to keep them alienated to avoid a Microsoft style lawsuit, there is no job security, professional development, raises, rewards for excellence other than a contract extension, the companies that use temps heavily tend to be the worst to work for. In short, is it an undesirable dead end.
Would it help for an aspiring chemist/engineer seeking green pastures and higher pay to move to a region like NJ where there is clustering of pharma, chem and biochem companies?
The government uses contractors all the time to provide services. In fact often when you see someone, they are really a contactor and not a true employee. Theoretically the contractors are temps, but in reality, they are there forever. Where I work there are contractors whose daddy, and daddy's daddy worked there. The contracts get competed every few years and the name on the business card changes, but the same people stay. They actually get better pay and benefits than the full time employees. Officially they are contractors because the work is temporary. I guess it's temporary in geologic epochs.
Having been one in the past, contractors work for a company who obviously has a contract with the government (say in this case). As long as there is work, they stay employed. If a contract ends, they may be able to find employment on a different contract if the company has extra business. While there are quite a few DoD contractors, there are also quite a few full-time GS employees. Really depends on the service, command, department, etc. and the type of work.
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