Are contractors held to a higher standard ?

[Spike]

Iv'e recently started my first contract as a Wintel Analyst after having been a permie for many years. It's a six month contract with a large financial services company at a very good daily rate and the possiblity of renewal is likely according to them.

The company has implemented a flexible working scheme where all employees are required to work 37.5 hours a week, but the how and when they work these hours is flexible. During my interview the managed implied that the same structure would apply to me.

Anyhow, I'vd been here for about two weeks now and so far it's going fairly well, although they are still taking me through a process of induction before allowing me to work on the infrastructure, which is money for jam as far as i'm concerned.

What I was curios about from those of you that have had years of contracting experience is whether contractors are held to a higher standard than permananent staff. The rest of my team are permies and I can't help but feel that I'm expected to know and do more than them. What is your experience ?

[kramer]

yes... and if they don't think so you should still swan around with an air of superiority, possibly dropping the occassional tenner on the floor as you go..

[BlasterBates]

Hang loose...

Just make sure your stuff works when it goes live, and that the bugs are little ones. Just see your role as giving the PM an easy life. What they expect of you is that you work independently without "bugging" everybody and eating too much of their time.

[Andyw]

Jealousy because you're doing the same job for loads more money !

You will only be respected when you prove your worth !

[MarillionFan]

Tenner!! What is he a temp. Drop a fifty.

[AtW]

I drop antique gold coins with my own face when I walk around the office.

hth

threaded.

[lukemg]

I have always considered this as the case Spike, especially at the start. Keep your head down, don't ruffle any feathers. Your job is to be very low maintenance, the permies will have settled into an easy going situation/flexible working/taking it in turns to be sick/early darts etc. You may get access to these over time but to start with you are johnny keen, turn up on time, nothing is too much trouble, get on with everyone and try to be productive and contribute as soon as you can, this will set your place and make you feel much better in the role.
Reality is you will likely be treated similar to the permies but the above approach will cover you regardless. Good idea to be on your guard also, e.g. joke email thread starts going round, be happy you are on the list (it means you are in with everyone) but don't bother contributing to it (always looks bad).
Good luck !

[MarillionFan]

"I drop antique gold coins with my own face when I walk around the office."

Peasant. Platinum coins embedded with diamonds & rubies are the norm for contractors in my office!

[Paddy]

On project work it is quite normal to be brought in only when there are problems. I’ve go used to arriving on site to be told that the previous permie has been trying to sort out a problem for six months . After a few hours on sit and being unfamiliar with the clients configuration they will pester me asking have I fixed it yet. I was on one large project and they had two permies working on the plan for six months, the chickened out a week before the go-ahead at which time they brought a contractor en-board (me) I had to scrap all of the previous design work and discover and start again. The delay was only one week. Yes there are different expectations of contractors.

[kramer]

try not to dally with any permie girls either... chances are someone is already on the case.