Contract is making me ill

[GhostofTarbera]

Start looking for another role, start doing 8 hours a day only until you get new role or someone taps you on the shoulder - smile when you walk out the door at 5pm

Tell boss to stop it


Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

[jk3838]

You come across this type of client contact from time to time, and it's all down to how much you personally can take of it with a 'water off a ducks back' attitude but still able to get the job done

He'll be going through contractors at a fair rate, so you'd hope at some point, someone higher up at the client will ask 'how come?', but that may be long after you've gone

You'll have plenty of longer gigs on your CV to show you're not 'flighty', and as someone else suggested, it's not uncommon to have a contract to go in and do a specific piece of work lasting just a few weeks

I'd be finding something else as they don't pay you enough to be made ill by it, but try and build up a resistance to it until you do

Remember, you're just trying to do your usual good job, they're not letting you

[filthy1980]

.

in a very similar position to you this time last year, 10 years + without much of a break, contract was rubbish wasn't enjoying it and was knackered

only had about 3 months worth of money in the account but didn't renew and took 6 weeks off before the next offer came along,

felt refreshed, and quite eager to get back into work, if you've been working for 12 years don't fear a few weeks on the bench or CV gaps

[Lance]

I thought most of us contractors were terrible cynics. You lot are lovely. Thank you, I really appreciate it.

probably best to tactically withdraw from here on a high note then

[clearedforlanding]

Walk out of the door. Don't pass go (as in do not even worry about your invoice getting paid.)

This sort of tulip cost me many months out of work and many sessions with a psychologist.

[gables]

in a very similar position to you this time last year, 10 years + without much of a break, contract was rubbish wasn't enjoying it and was knackered

only had about 3 months worth of money in the account but didn't renew and took 6 weeks off before the next offer came along,

felt refreshed, and quite eager to get back into work, if you've been working for 12 years don't fear a few weeks on the bench or CV gaps

It does seem to me some get hung up on gaps in their CV. I left my permie role to return to contracting that resulted in a 7 month gap, the contract lasted 23 months then I had a 6 month gap until next contract which lasted 17 months, after that a 4 month contract - not once was I asked about the gaps. I'm now 4 months into this current gap :-)

[Hobosapien]

For the sake of the contractors that are likely to come after you, make sure when you do leave you document the situation and email it to this manager and those above him.

Hopefully then he will be assessed and moved aside to something he is more suitable for. You can then leave knowing you did all you could in a bad situation and may have triggered a positive change so the same doesn't happen to whoever else comes into this manager's sights.

If you wanted to take it a step further, hire a private investigator to find the dirt on this person then use that to get them to back down or quit.

[SandyD]

Nothing is worth your ill health, you must leave if its making you ill, I was in similar situation a couple of years ago, doing 3 people's job, and working very late, doing business work for them and IT work for them, no room for complaining either !!
but I do understand the job market is very hard at the moment.... hope you find best way forward for you, if you can afford to be on the bench for a few months, then yes leave without a doubt.

[sal]

Just walk. I wouldn't have kept looking for a new role the second I realised me predecessor was canned with no notice and no apparent reason.

For me the ability to just walk away from situations like this with short notice is the best feature of contracting, not the pay.

Life is too short to put up with idiots in your workplace.

[Wobblyheed]

I have been contracting for 12 years and have always got well paid contracts with big brands. I have had a bit of recognition for my work and whenever a contract has ended they've asked me to stay on.

My luck has changed. I hate my current contract. Everything is a number 1 priority for my manager and he is not confrontational. He fired the previous contractor without letting him know until the day I started. That guy still doesn't know what he did wrong.

There is something about his management style that is actively getting in the way of me doing my work. It isn't just the long conversations it's this kind of erratic way of interrupting what I'm doing all the time and micro managing. All previous managers have let me get on with my work.

I am getting two hours sleep a night in my bloody minded determination to get all the impossible tasks done. I am exhausted. I know if I complain he will smile and pretend to care and then replace me instantly (the chap who got fired thought they were the best of mates) and I really need to find a new contract first.

Plus he already knows I'm exhausted. My face is practically green, I don't look well. Co workers comment on how I manage to work for someone who micromanages so much. I know it isn't just me. I was always so good at my job. Now I feel I CAN'T be. It's horrible.

My question is: if I leave how will I explain leaving to my next client? Should I put the 8 weeks I've worked here on my CV. Or leave it out and look like I've had a huge period of not working as that would be 6 months of not working then.

Agency chap seems a nice guy and was nice about the chap who got fired. But I don't know. Don't know what to do.

Oh and they're probably already looking for my replacement so I don't think staying is an option anyway.

Leave now...10 years ago I ended up with a stress related illness (that I didn't even know I had contracted) through a similar role. It tulip me up no end and I choose my contracts carefully now.