The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce • Hacker News Board

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#21

Post by zenlikethat » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 5:40 PM UTC

ttoinou wrote: post #13

Being on your own in the workforce often means you don't have the safety net of benefits and other forms of support that traditional workers do. Even the first sentence is kinda stupid. Benefits are a form of salary. Independent have the freedom to buy the benefits they want and spend their income as they please. What's wrong with that ? The best antidote to fear, she says, is to create a new social safety net where…

Employers can provide benefits for cheaper due to economies of scale buying a lot of them from big insurance orgs. Individual contractors, even if they weren’t already being pushed into possibly-exploitative relationships with companies like Uber et al., don’t get those discounts. Life on the other side of the API layer ain’t so rosy.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#22

Post by stevenwoo » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 5:43 PM UTC

40acres wrote: post #5

> Within a decade, contractors and freelancers could make up half of the American workforce. This is pretty shocking to me. With recent trends you can easily see that the other half of the population will be people in IT and health care (home service providers, nurses, etc.) I've never had a contract job, I'm not sure if part-time college jobs count, are contract employees getting work via an agency or are they on th…

Those home service providers and healthcare providers at home are/will be contractors for an agency. I've had to deal with this with in home help for my 86 year old mother, unless you hire someone directly as a freelancer, the help will be a hourly contractor where the agency takes half of the fee.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#23

Post by maxxxxx » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 5:44 PM UTC

wincy wrote: post #9

z_open wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ideally they would be coupled to our government, but since they aren't providing that, our employers should be obligated to ensure they are providing us with the means to keep ourselves healthy.

We should be able to get health insurance and bargain based on community groups or individually tax-free rather than by employer. If the entire Mormon church could collective bargain for health insurance for its members it would be WAY cheaper than any employer (because they don't drink alcohol or smoke).

Just make one big risk pool nationwide. Easy to administer .

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#24

Post by noxxten » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 5:44 PM UTC

mi100hael wrote: post #8

Employer "benefits" are things that are all freely available a la carte. There's no reason contractors can't buy health insurance from a marketplace or contribute to an IRA and wind up with the same end result. You as a contractor just have to factor those additional costs in to your decision-making process when evaluating compensation packages.

The "benefit" portion of that statement is that the employers typically take on a portion of that cost so it's reduced for the employee. Have you ever filed taxes as a freelancer? You nearly pay double because you're both the employer AND employee in that situation... The same goes for other benefits as well like healthcare - There are no group discounts when you're the only one getting coverage.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#25

Post by Spooky23 » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 5:45 PM UTC

40acres wrote: post #5

> Within a decade, contractors and freelancers could make up half of the American workforce. This is pretty shocking to me. With recent trends you can easily see that the other half of the population will be people in IT and health care (home service providers, nurses, etc.) I've never had a contract job, I'm not sure if part-time college jobs count, are contract employees getting work via an agency or are they on th…

It's called a bodyshop. They've been around for decades.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#26

Post by FLUX-YOU » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 5:46 PM UTC

SamReidHughes wrote: post #4

Good (edit: in the long run). The services they list, like health insurance, retirement, or pensions, should be decoupled from your employer.

How do you get a 401k match from a private company?

If all contractors are making 20% above a FTE, that's fine, but that's a decent chunk of change if you're high salary.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#27

Post by danjoc » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 5:46 PM UTC

mi100hael wrote: post #8

Employer "benefits" are things that are all freely available a la carte. There's no reason contractors can't buy health insurance from a marketplace or contribute to an IRA and wind up with the same end result. You as a contractor just have to factor those additional costs in to your decision-making process when evaluating compensation packages.

>There's no reason contractors can't buy health insurance

Likewise, with the individual mandate removed, there's no reason employees can't opt out of health insurance. But in both cases, the pay does not change. If I opt out of health insurance, and save my company hundreds of dollars per paycheck, I do not get a raise in that amount. The incentive then is to accept health insurance as a employee and do without as a contractor.

The problem for everyone is uninsured contractors will also have incentive to avoid treatment as long as possible due to the expense. By the time they seek treatment, the cost of treating the problem has ballooned. They won't be turned away, they won't be able to pay, and hospitals won't go out of business. I'll let you guess who ends up paying for the outsized medical bills they generate.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#28

Post by rdlecler1 » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 5:47 PM UTC

I think this speaks to the importance of universal healthcare.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#29

Post by qwerty456127 » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 5:49 PM UTC

SamReidHughes wrote: post #4

Good (edit: in the long run). The services they list, like health insurance, retirement, or pensions, should be decoupled from your employer.

I agree absolutely. Corporations should only pay employees money (including whatever amount it takes to buy reasonable insurance etc) and that should be up to the employee to choose an insurance company and pay them. Insurance companies should compete targeting not corporations but people as their customers.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#30

Post by neogodless » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 5:49 PM UTC

FLUX-YOU wrote: post #26

SamReidHughes wrote: post #4

Good (edit: in the long run). The services they list, like health insurance, retirement, or pensions, should be decoupled from your employer.

How do you get a 401k match from a private company? If all contractors are making 20% above a FTE, that's fine, but that's a decent chunk of change if you're high salary.

While you don't get a 401k match as a freelancer or contractor, ideally you can get hourly rates to make up some of the difference. The rest can come from registering as a company, setting up a solo 401(k) - in the U.S. anyway - and then putting up to ~$54,000 of your income into a retirement fund pre-tax. That's a pretty significant potential tax savings.