I recently embarked upon a new contract. Had the paperwork reviewed by B&C and, as I expected, the working conditions put it squarely inside iR35 to the point that it wasn't worth trying to get out of it. I took the gig anyway because the rate's decent (even with the IR35 hit) and the work looks interesting.
So, I've accepted that I'm inside IR35. The other contractors, as far as I know, haven't. I discovered in a team meeting that all staff, explicitly including contractors, must have monthly one-to-ones with their line manager. That was swiftly followed by the instruction that all contractors are expected to have objectives and appraisals. And shortly after that, I was informed that I would need to attend a formal probation meeting three months after the start of my contract.
I was taken aback by the first two, but the third is hilarious - like the rest of you, I don't have a probation period and the notice period (or lack of it) is specified in the contract, so I'm struggling to see the point of that exercise. I mean, I'm OK with being inside IR35 on this contract so if they want to pay me to sit in a meeting room for an hour that's fine with me, but I've never met an end client more determined to make contractors feel like part of the permanent workforce. And yes, they do think they're doing us a favour with their warm and fuzzy HR hug. My attempts to demonstrate otherwise have so far been fruitless.
Anyway, has anyone else come across anything like this?
So, I've accepted that I'm inside IR35. The other contractors, as far as I know, haven't. I discovered in a team meeting that all staff, explicitly including contractors, must have monthly one-to-ones with their line manager. That was swiftly followed by the instruction that all contractors are expected to have objectives and appraisals. And shortly after that, I was informed that I would need to attend a formal probation meeting three months after the start of my contract.
I was taken aback by the first two, but the third is hilarious - like the rest of you, I don't have a probation period and the notice period (or lack of it) is specified in the contract, so I'm struggling to see the point of that exercise. I mean, I'm OK with being inside IR35 on this contract so if they want to pay me to sit in a meeting room for an hour that's fine with me, but I've never met an end client more determined to make contractors feel like part of the permanent workforce. And yes, they do think they're doing us a favour with their warm and fuzzy HR hug. My attempts to demonstrate otherwise have so far been fruitless.
Anyway, has anyone else come across anything like this?
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