June 7th, 2013, 3:32 am
QuoteOriginally posted by: farmerIn the long run, how much you get paid will vary according to many factors, including how productive you are. I believe productivity is always reduced by working with people who have a different pay/incentive/schedule structure.I don't know the details of how you contract works. But consider a hypothetical where they have budgeted $300k to get a project done. And they are using contractors since it is a one-time job, and they want it done faster. And suppose you have to cooperate and coordinate with full-time salaried employees. You may find that on the day when you have billed $280k, and the project is 90% done, the people you have to work with decide to go on vacation, or work on something more urgent inside the business. You may find that it is impossible to finish the project on time or on budget, or impossible for you to get continuous pay, because the people you have to work with don't give a fuck. Especially if your hourly rate gives the appearance you are making more than them, even if it comes out to less.If you were on salary, you might welcome two weeks reading football scores while your emails go unanswered and your project is forgotten.ppl that are salaried cannot just "decide to go on vacation" whenever they feel like it, especially not when a project is near a critical deadline. that's usually understood when you get hired as a salaried employee.that's the whole gimmick behind the salary thing - the ideal that most ppl have in their minds is that "as long as the work gets done in time, i can come and go as i please". yet the fact is that most salaried grunts don't have nearly as much control over what needs to get done and what the deadlines are. these are almost always decided by higher ups with very little input from those below. companies these days especially would much rather burn out their salaried employees by under-staffing and overloading the remaining employees, than hire enough ppl (salaried or otherwise).if you can't enjoy your life because you have to be at work all the time, you might as well get paid for the time you're putting in.