Would you hire a contractor?

**DiscoStu** · 22 November 2009, 12:11

Then you might have to pay your permie a bonus.

And spend £10k a year contributing to his pension.

And spend £6k on employer's NI.

And pay for healthcare.

And pay for a company car.

And pay for training.

And pay him when he goes on holiday.

And pay him when he's off sick.

And pay him paternity when he has kids (or maternity when she has kids)

And pay for an HR department to deal with all the baggage that goes along with having permies.

And have to pay him lots of cash when you no longer need him and want to make him redundant.

Still rather hire a permie?

**Cowboy Bob** · 22 November 2009, 12:14

Yes. I won't be paying for their holidays, "sick" days, redundancy when I let them go after the project is finished, pension, gardening leave etc etc. Plus, a good contractor is worth 2-3 permies anyway in terms of knowledge and skill due to a wider work experience.

**minestrone** · 22 November 2009, 12:21

People that hire contractors for more than a year tend not to have a cut of the comany equity which would be effected by the hire of a contractor.

I have hired contractors but it was a fixed jobs,, 2 months, 3 month thing.

**VectraMan** · 22 November 2009, 12:52

Back when I was in a position to do it, I probably would have considered contractors to be an expensive luxury. But now I've seen the light.

My old boss from back then, who used to own and run a business with 50-odd employees said to me recently "I never want employees again", because of all the grief caused.

**RichardCranium** · 22 November 2009, 13:39

If you intend to employ someone to sit on a chair for 12 hours, why pay more than minimum wage?

**cojak** · 22 November 2009, 15:35

Originally posted by joey122 View Post

Serious question here but if you were a manager (with an equity stake in your nusiness) and therefore a focus on cost would you really hire a contractor?

In finance contractors are roughly on 500 -550 a day

Thats about 130K a year.

A pretty senior developer could be getting 60K on a perm position.

Do you really want to hire a contractor for 2* perm who is likely to work strictly 9->5?

You are joking, aren't you?

A senior developer might only get 60K, but you'll be paying NI, holidays, pensions and all the other perks and overheads that a permie expects - and that's a damn site more than 60k...

And a contractor working 9 - 5??? What about a contractor who delivers what they say they're going to deliver?

It's all about deliverables in Contractor Land matey, and I'm not sure if you've quite twigged that....

**d000hg** · 22 November 2009, 15:53

I'd hire a contractor (and have done) for my small business, because I haven't the first idea how to employ someone, and I am not able to know more than a couple of months in advance what work there will be.

No way I'm paying £500/day though. I couldn't cover it in what I charge my clients on current projects.

**Pondlife** · 22 November 2009, 16:12

I think Joey is gonna struggle to haul this line in with so many fish caught on it.

HTH

**d000hg** · 22 November 2009, 16:16

It's fun though.

Would you hire a contractor?