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Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

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Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s also true in general tech once you get to director or senior manager grade your short and long term incentive plans can be 50% of your BP and your BP isn’t going to be too shabby either. Contractors do get paid more but they don’t earn more at least not anymore after IR35 since they have a tax rate that is over 50% as they are also liable for the 15.5% employer national insurance contributions now. Overall contr…

All good points but it really does depend on the industry and the level. I have seen mid level jobs where the contractor is paid twice what the full time staff are, no bonus on either side. Your point about long term incentives is very dependent on company. I wish I had a scheme like that!

Long term incentives are pretty much stock options plus a bonus “top up” where X% of your bonus for the current year is paid to you again after Y years (usually 2 or 3).

Stock options are usually available at most large traded companies, bonus top ups are usually for directors+ or senior managers in FAANG or other large US companies that tend to have more grades than UK ones.

Then there are ofc various retention bonuses and allowances, but these tend to be pretty much just a pay increase without the social contributions liabilities to the employer.

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#132
would not be surprised if upper management in these tech firms are paid handsome kickbacks by these contractor companies (bodyshopping / staffing agencies) to re-hire staff as contractors.

Many such staffing agencies firms, esp with those fewer than 100 staff, are known to be 'benami companies' and pay handsome kickbacks to the client's mgmt based on headcount hired (and hence the revenue generated) through them. Often these are routed through hawala method, and final payments made in foreign (or their respective native) countries , so would be hard to track

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#133
post #5

I know people who got laid off at my company who are trying to stay tied into that company however they can. If you're a contractor for now, fine. You still get to maintain and build new connections to try to get back into an FTE role later on, hopefully at the end of the day this being a minor speedbump in your career. I can appreciate the thinking. I might actually choose that path if it happens to me.

also, is it likely due to Visa situation of those people ?

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the person you’re replying to but I’m the US anti-union propaganda’s talking points do include “bad for the economy”. Basically anything that hurts the top 0.1% is presented as bad for the economy. Which probably has a lot to do with how the economy is measured.

I wonder if they ever figure out how to stop the emigration from the capitalist hell-hole that is the US to the socialist paradise of Cuba (or pick any South American country if you prefer, most of them are socialist). Its a real problem!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-04/americans...

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#135
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone advertise 'inside' IR35? I get tonnes too, but it'd be at my risk not the, err, employer's.

I haven’t seen any company that will take contractors outside of IR35 at least in London for more than a year now. The risk falls completely on the company these days. IR35 is a very nasty piece of legislation it’s difficult to even hire remote contractors outside of the UK with it without going through an established firm.

Shorter than a year suits me. My goal with contracting is to have time off between contracts to have more energy and time to bootstrap some business ideas. It is a shame this legislation passed, I understand the concern about hidden employees/tax dodging but it seems they overshot a bit.

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#136
post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am talking about the same position as a full time and as a W-2 contractor. You have insurance when on W-2.

OK people are definitely talking about two different things in this thread then. There's what you're talking about, W-2 contractors who work through a staffing agency which provides temporary work for lower-skill positions. They are often paid less than full-time but this is usually because they have less skill/experience. An equivalent full-time job often doesn't even exist at the company. And then there are indepen…

W-2 contractors are the same people who were FTE before. They are not paid less because they have less experience. Please read the article before you comment.

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#137
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be very surprising if you believe labor protections are the root cause of Portugal's economic woes. Can you share how you drew that conclusion?

In case you're actually curious to learn about thoughts in this direction, see the paper "Did the crisis permanently scar the Portuguese labour market? Evidence from a Markov-switching Beveridge curve analysis" at https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/scpwps/ecbwp2043.en.pdf From the introduction: > For many years, a key distinguishing feature of the Portuguese labour market has been its persistently high employment and…

This is really interesting. If I understand correctly, it's drawing conclusions about the unemployment rate since the financial crisis.

I'm under the impression that even before the financial crisis, Portugal was considered one of the "poorer" European economies, which is what I was getting at. But I see now the comment I was responding to may have been concerned with Portugal's _recovery_ since 2008.

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#138
post #5

I know people who got laid off at my company who are trying to stay tied into that company however they can. If you're a contractor for now, fine. You still get to maintain and build new connections to try to get back into an FTE role later on, hopefully at the end of the day this being a minor speedbump in your career. I can appreciate the thinking. I might actually choose that path if it happens to me.

also, is it likely due to Visa situation of those people ?

Maybe, but probably not.

Some folks I know are citizens and still trying to stay in the company orbit.

My company offers RSU's as a standard part of performance based comp after a certain level - and having talked to recruiters that is the thing which makes it hard to compete with. Huge tech companies just have higher TC than lesser tech companies as a result. I gather this is generally the case at FAANG companies.

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven’t seen any company that will take contractors outside of IR35 at least in London for more than a year now. The risk falls completely on the company these days. IR35 is a very nasty piece of legislation it’s difficult to even hire remote contractors outside of the UK with it without going through an established firm.

Shorter than a year suits me. My goal with contracting is to have time off between contracts to have more energy and time to bootstrap some business ideas. It is a shame this legislation passed, I understand the concern about hidden employees/tax dodging but it seems they overshot a bit.

I think GP meant not noticed any such listings in the last 12 months, not that they were advertising a post with a duration less than a year.

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#140
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shorter than a year suits me. My goal with contracting is to have time off between contracts to have more energy and time to bootstrap some business ideas. It is a shame this legislation passed, I understand the concern about hidden employees/tax dodging but it seems they overshot a bit.

I think GP meant not noticed any such listings in the last 12 months, not that they were advertising a post with a duration less than a year.

I didn't think he was advertising, but I did misinterpret it as him saying only shorter term contracts were available outside IR35.
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