What’s the difference between a zero-hour contract and the current state of IT contracting?
I only get paid when I work, hours are subject to change at any time, projects can end suddenly, zero to little benefts. My last gig was from 12pm to 12am Mon-Thurs. A month in we get a call at 10pm to send us all home and to be back at 7am. Our project totally changed and we were worked in shifts round the clock and weekends for 4 weeks. If we didnt like it we could hit the door. They approved overtime but it wasn’t until we got our paychecks that it was straight time. Nobody bothered to inform us of their definition of “over time”. While I was happy to be working, the instability was difficult, especially with a newborn and a wife with hormones returning to normal post pregnancy.
Business complains at the lack of skilled labor but they simply refuse to invest in people. It’s like a bad relationship where you are told to give you all while getting the bare minimum in return. They bring in Mercenaries then complain when they aren’t loyal.
It wouldn’t shock me to see the nature of our employment in this country move to a strictly contract basis. This presents a serious issue for people trying to work and grow. Many of the guys I worked with had been contracting for years. Few had any long term experience and many of their skillsets were very limited, basically desktop only and nothing outside of that. Certs and training dont give you the experience you need for ANY technical field, times does as well as earning trust and taking on new responsibilities. Contract work rarely grows and we could end up with a very limited workforce that is basically stagnant with no upward mobility.
Invest? Most college grads are not able, willing nor have any interest in working. They just want a paycheck. Invest?, it goes both ways.