Perm job vs Contract

Sirius

Sirius

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Hi

I am currently permanently employed by a JSE Blue chip company in IT and have quite good benefits attached to the job. So out of the blue a company based in US found me on LinkedIn. We initially started to communicate via email and then finally telephone calls back and forth. They are an outsourcing IT company and have a huge contract with a local business with branches across SA and worldwide. The post requires someone on contract and will be travelling everywhere to work on their contract and will be needed like soon! My situation is I am a family guy and have kids and a couple of other dependents. Plus am in the middle of a major project at my present company and I play a key role in the project. The offer is in Euros/US$ depending on where I will be working. Some Googling did show that the company is genuine and has some business with other well known organisations both in US and EU.

Sticky question, anyone give me advice the advantages and disadvantages associated with contract work?
 
Doesn't it basically come down to more money and exposure vs. family time? Which choice is best for your wife and children?

Advantage of contract work is more money and a miniscule better chance to do more interesting work. That's basically it. You don't get paid leave or any real benefits unless you structure it as part of the contract.
 
Been contracting for 12 years now. No work, no pay applies. No sick leave, no leave etc. But with proper planning, it actually becomes a bonus. I take more leave now than when I had my 20 days paid, because when I have worked my hours for the month, I can take days off. Flexi hours is what makes it worth it. I've had better offers, but the flexi hours is what makes me stay.
 
Hamster said:
Doesn't it basically come down to more money and exposure vs. family time? Which choice is best for your wife and children?

Advantage of contract work is more money and a miniscule better chance to do more interesting work. That's basically it. You don't get paid leave or any real benefits unless you structure it as part of the contract.
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What he said.

Better medical aid rates, pension fund and group insurance. These are things that you don't think of when you are working for yourself.
 
Lord Farquart said:
Been contracting for 12 years now. No work, no pay applies. No sick leave, no leave etc. But with proper planning, it actually becomes a bonus. I take more leave now than when I had my 20 days paid, because when I have worked my hours for the month, I can take days off. Flexi hours is what makes it worth it. I've had better offers, but the flexi hours is what makes me stay.
Click to expand...

I was initially hired on a contract basis. If it's a decent company (as was in my case), you get all the perks of a permanent employee.
 
I was working on contract for seven years, when my employer offered me a permanent position I left.

However I would say your situation screams "risk averse" and I wouldn't go for the contract position. If you are worried about money maybe get a formal offer of employment from this new company and give it to your current employer to see if they can match it.
 
Thank you all for your input. Looks like a lot of people I spoke to do favour the contract proposal. I am in the middle of being vetted and they will only release the final "juicy" details of the contract once the security clearance is done. I think the exposure is more appealing than the "free" beer and braai every Friday! :p
 
SCCM 2007/2012 with Windows 2003, 2008 R2, XP, 7 and 8 devices. Administration, maintenance / support of about 5000 devices with an additional 15-20 000 devices to be added during the contract or contracts thereafter. We (they are building a team) will not be involved in the design and configuration of the environment.
 
I have been doing IT contract work for 30 years. In my view I made at least 25% more money, than I would have, not doing contract work. There are many reasons why this is, and will take long to explain. But bottom line, you have to be aware always of the downside, meaning, no work no pay, leave no pay, no benefits like car, group insurance, pension, 13th cheque.

The plus side, usually you get paid for every worked hour, usually full time job does not pay overtime. Also, this allows you to control your own pension, medical aid, whatever, as you will take that out on your own, and decide on your own what to take, or not take. The benefit is you don't need to take medical or pension or anything, and re-route the money somewhere else, like in bond debts.

The big thing is you have to be finance savy, if you are not, you can be in serious trouble if something goes wrong, like loosing the contract, meaning unemployed, or you are disable, can't work for whatever reason.

If you know how to work with money, the benefit is huge, simply because you get more money every month, than on a permanent basis. But if you waste that money buying stupid things like half million rand cars or a 2/3 million rand house and waste the money like no tomorrow, you are on serious dangerous ground.

Also, one of the biggest things a contract worker has over permanent employee, you get paid for 13 months, not 12, meaning, 4 weeks in 'n month, 52 divided by 4 = 13. So, every 3 months, you get a weeks extra pay, where your permanent colleagues does not get it. Usually they get this in the form of a 13th cheque, but they only get what they worked for, as they worked 13 months anyway. But if they don't get the 13th cheque, then you get an extra months pay than they get. That is why it is no big deal then to take 4 weeks leave a year, and also still work 12 months and get pay for 12 months.

If you look after your money, and prepare for emergencies, then you can make lots more lots. If you are bad with money, stay away and rather stay permanent.
 
OHNO said:
I have been doing IT contract work for 30 years. In my view I made at least 25% more money, than I would have, not doing contract work. There are many reasons why this is, and will take long to explain. But bottom line, you have to be aware always of the downside, meaning, no work no pay, leave no pay, no benefits like car, group insurance, pension, 13th cheque.

The plus side, usually you get paid for every worked hour, usually full time job does not pay overtime. Also, this allows you to control your own pension, medical aid, whatever, as you will take that out on your own, and decide on your own what to take, or not take. The benefit is you don't need to take medical or pension or anything, and re-route the money somewhere else, like in bond debts.

The big thing is you have to be finance savy, if you are not, you can be in serious trouble if something goes wrong, like loosing the contract, meaning unemployed, or you are disable, can't work for whatever reason.

If you know how to work with money, the benefit is huge, simply because you get more money every month, than on a permanent basis. But if you waste that money buying stupid things like half million rand cars or a 2/3 million rand house and waste the money like no tomorrow, you are on serious dangerous ground.

Also, one of the biggest things a contract worker has over permanent employee, you get paid for 13 months, not 12, meaning, 4 weeks in 'n month, 52 divided by 4 = 13. So, every 3 months, you get a weeks extra pay, where your permanent colleagues does not get it. Usually they get this in the form of a 13th cheque, but they only get what they worked for, as they worked 13 months anyway. But if they don't get the 13th cheque, then you get an extra months pay than they get. That is why it is no big deal then to take 4 weeks leave a year, and also still work 12 months and get pay for 12 months.

If you look after your money, and prepare for emergencies, then you can make lots more lots. If you are bad with money, stay away and rather stay permanent.
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2 questions:
Have you saved for your retirement years?
Do you have a decent medical aid?

If yes to both, then you cannot possibly have won 25%. Group schemes are way cheaper than anything you can do as an individual.

If no to 1, you should be worrying.
 
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