I've just gotten a job. A good job, one that doesn't involve Halliburton or writing snappy copy about financial services, or selling stuff we don't need to people who don't need it.
And while my friends and family are congratulating me, I'm choking on the details. Because this company has outsourced everything. Developers on one continent; testers on another. And managers on a third--except that like most of the people they're hiring, I'm a temp.
Even though I'm in charge of strategic projects that are clearly central to their business, my terms are one year. No sick days, no paid vacation. Eligible for benefits after six months.
So what am I whining about?
I know it's a good job. I'm glad to have it. And yet, I'm horrified that the parent company has found a way to avoid paying benefits or severance for what are essentially career positions. These are jobs that require 5-10 years of experience. I'm not a Wal*Mart greeter. (Yet.)
Don't get me wrong. I've done plenty of contracting and hired consultants for short-term projects, finding it preferable to layoffs. It's not the lack of security or permanence that gets me, but the stripping of benefits, even for professional level work.
Self-employment also has tax benefits--writeoffs, investing in your own business, SEP IRAs, deductible health insurance. Temping means we split the social security payment, but that's it. I don't think I'll be eligible to collect unemployment.
In the past few months, the job market has finally started to recover. And yet...salaries are roughly where they were in the mid 90s; and benefits even when they're offered typically require employees to pay in. Don't know about you, but my rent isn't going down, even if my taxes have.
In the 90s, a lot of companies got in trouble with the IRS for treating long-term temps as independent contractors. Most famously, a bunch of people who worked at Microsoft for years successfully sued for stock options. The IRS guidelines were clear: if you worked on site, at their direction and their hours and equipment, and billed hourly, you were an employee.
The problem is that companies got the message and created a lesser class of employees. Who's going to enforce the temporary part? Not those of us seeking work. It's enough to make me want to start a union.