HSBC Contract Start

[mudskipper]

i have been told there was an upgrade (HR System) happened and that screwed something

Currently at HSBC and it’s a fact, there is a new HR system.

Built by contractors?

[cojak]

Built by contractors?

Probably not...

[fullyautomatix]

I am at HSBC and got an extension recently. The only upgrade I have heard about is some new hrdirect software upgrade but I really doubt it would delay your onboarding since that is all on peoplesoft. Was it direct? The hiring process takes minimum 5 weeks. But once you are in, its the best gig ever.
Also, that 220 day rule was not enforced, but entire December was a furlough. Even then, anybody working on production systems had to work 2 weeks but I took the entire month off and will do it again this year.

[blackeye]

Managed to secure a contract with HSBC. But, i have been told there was an upgrade (HR System) happened and that screwed something which delays my start date. I have been delayed by almost 4 weeks. Anyone in the same boat?

Thanks

HSBC has actually got a new HR system, so the agent isn't lying. If the agent is Resource Solutions (internal recruiter) then it's probably fine. People on here worry too much.

[blackeye]

Built by contractors?

Usually a mixture of consultants at the beginning, contractors later on and permie programme leads / SMEs throughout.

[BoredBloke]

Eh? How does this work? Not seen this before. I'm also on 220 days but it just stops at 220 if I ever got to it. That would mean a 6 mother is a 6 mother but a 12 mother is a 11.5 er and some holidays... if you get me.

My understanding is this.....365 - 104 = 261 working days. 261 working days - 220 working days = 41. That means you have to take off 41 working days in 12 months. I was told this would be pro rata in my 6 month contract....so I'd be expected to take of 20.5 working days over the coming 6 months. My contract was due to start at the start of June, after they had dragged the whole process out for 7 weeks - meaning I'd have to take off 4 weeks out of the next 26, after they had already given me 4 weeks bench time, while they did their background checks. They only sent me the contract a few days before my start date and because of the delays they had put into the whole process, I'd been offered a different role. I wasn't going to take the other role until I saw this clause.

[fidot]

If it's genuinely pro rata, you'd be taking a day off every 6 or 7 days

[BoredBloke]

If it's genuinely pro rata, you'd be taking a day off every 6 or 7 days

I specifically asked the question - would I be expected to take a month off in the next 6 months. He said yes! I asked the Resource solutions agent. Because my start date was very early june, my end date would be around the start of December. So 4 weeks off to be taken before the Christmas break, where they would impose a furlough, after the delays that their on boarding added. It all seemed too one sided for me. So I declined the contract. RBS on the other hand, on boarding took 2 days!

[Glencky]

Lot of people who don't know anything about HSBC on this thread... and a few who do.

First thing - their standard contract enforces no more than 220 chargeable days in a year plus at least one period of 'core leave' (which they enforce for all workers, regardless of permanent or contract) which is at least 10 days, in every 12 month period. I'm led to believe this is common in banking, as a fraud-prevention thing (because nobody can hide something they're doing for 2 full weeks - as an aside, permies can face a disciplinary if they so much as check their email on their phone during this core leave period. It's serious.) They often have 6 month contracts, but at this time of year it could be shorter because your contract might be taken up to financial year end i.e. 31st December. You probably won't be forced to take a 2 week core leave period for a contract shorter than a year, but if you get an extension you will be at some point in the next one. Plus they'll probably enforce a contractor shutdown over Christmas that'll cover it anyway (so be aware you'll probably lose 2 weeks in December).

On the original question, I can easily believe there is a problem introducing a delay, it's quite possible the agent isn't lying. In general, they had the longest and most drawn-out onboarding process I have ever experienced. It happened that I got the contract through a close personal friend, somebody i'd never worked with but been close to for a long time. the friend wasn't the hiring manager but the hiring manager delegated managing the onboarding process to the friend, so I literally knew everything that was going on, an unusual place to be in for a contractor. Between my 'side' and my friend's 'side', we both pushed and pushed, and it was still 6 weeks from interview to start date (bearing in mind the hiring manager made me a verbal offer on the spot and agreed rate IN THE INTERVIEW). I had to jump through more hoops in the prescreening than I have ever had to and if I hadn't known for sure the role wasn't going to evaporate and it was all c-ck-up and inefficiency rather than design, I'd have been convinced it was a wrong 'un. Once I got in, talking to all the other contractors, in many ways my experience was pretty good..! It's one of the reasons I think they 'recycle' a lot of their contractors internally because if you leave you have to go through all that again. It's crazy that their internal processes (particularly the outsourced screening with very rigorous requirements) prevent them taking advantage of the main point of hiring contractors i.e. a flexible workforce.

So don't think it's necessarily something nefarious going on. But on the other hand, expect not to be starting for at least several weeks. If that's a problem for you, start looking for something else. In fact, you could do worse than to do that anyway because a bird in the hand...

[BR14]

If it's in tellytubby land, it'll take you 2 hours per day getting in and out of the fecking kraphole.